Peterborough: A High Court ruling is awaited in the legal battle over the future of Bharat Hindu Samaj, the only Hindu temple serving Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire.
The temple, founded in 1986 by Hindu families expelled from Uganda in 1972, has operated from the New England Complex for nearly 40 years and serves an estimated 18,000 devotees. No other Hindu temple exists within 50-60km.
Peterborough City Council sold the building to the United Kingdom Islamic Mission, which plans to convert it into a mosque, as part of efforts to manage the council’s £500 million debt, despite Bharat Hindu Samaj trustees offering £1.3 million to buy the site outright after 14 years of negotiation.
In February 2026, Mr Justice Fordham granted an injunction freezing the sale, telling the council it had “brought this situation on itself” over its lack of transparency. A full judicial review hearing took place in July, with trustee Gauri Chaudhary telling the court the council “never carried out a meaningful assessment of how the sale would affect Hindu residents.” A final ruling has not yet been handed down.
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