Hounslow Council looks set to back-track on a decision to lease Feltham Assembly Hall to an Islamic organisation after outrage in some sections of the local community.

The decision to lease the hall to Feltham Hira Association was made by a single cabinet member, Councillor Samia Chaudhary, on March 29, during the period of Purdah in the run up to the local elections on May 3. This is a period which restricts the way in which information can be released by the council to the public.

A council report stated the decision was made because the building was something of a "white elephant" and that Hira was "the only potential applicant".

It said the council wanted to see the building used to fuller potential and also make some money from it, which it was not doing under its previous management company, Fusion. A way also needed to be found to complete expensive renovations of the building totalling some £350,000.

When they found out about the Hira lease, however, 800 people, many representing other community groups who use the hall, signed a petition complaining about the "lack of transparency" and lack of consultation in the way the decision was made.

The petitioners said by making the decision in the period of Purdah, the council was leaving itself open to accusations of "favouring one community group over another", as during this period the council is not supposed to release any information that could be seen to favour parties in the election campaign.

The petitioners also demanded the hall remain in use for the whole community because they said it was originally entrusted to the children of Feltham, and so "the council has a duty to ensure that the whole community is involved in any decisions about its future".

Separate accusations have also been levelled at the Labour group suggesting the decision was timed to help it win votes amongst the Muslim community and was even an attempt to displace non-Muslim councillors and Conservative candidates in the elections.

Conservative councillor John Todd immediately launched a bid to have the decision overturned on the grounds that people were not aware of it and that proper processes had not been followed in the decision-making process.

The 20-year lease to Hira would have given the council £12,000 per year in rent and £100,000 would have to be spent on renovations in the first five years.

But following a meeting between Mr Todd and Cllr Hanif Khan, lead member for transport and corporate property and Cllr Puneet Grewal, chair of the Overview and Scrutiny committee, the decision looks set for reversal.

A report to be presented to cabinet next week admits the decision "took the local community by surprise".

Feltham Assembly Hall

It states: "While both the cabinet member and leader of the council believe the process to select Hira as the proposed new managers of Feltham Assembly Hall was appropriate, the members supporting the call-in challenge that view. What is agreed is that the announcement of the proposed decision took the local community by surprise and this should not have been the case."

Councillor Khan said: “I will be presenting a report on the resolution of the call-in of the Single Member Decision on the new lease allocation for Feltham Assembly Hall at next week’s meeting of Hounslow’s Cabinet (Tuesday 17 July).

“The recommendations are to note that the Single Member Decision will no longer proceed, and to agree the alternative arrangements; the agenda item is available on the council website.

“Should Cabinet agree the recommendations, the council will implement the next steps as set out in the report.”

The "next steps" will involve a new competitive tendering process to find bidders who can take on the hall and a consultation of what local people want. It will also involve a valuation of the hall so the council knows its true worth.

CouncillorTodd told the BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service: "What is important to me is that Feltham Assembly Hall is a really vital community asset.

"It's where the community goes to hold events and should be subsidised by the council.

"I got important legal advice and challenged the council on six points. It was a clear breach of transparency and I'm very pleased the council has reconsidered the decision. "

However the U-turn won't please everyone. Another petition titled ‘Uphold decision to allow Feltham HIRA Association to manage the Feltham Assembly Hall’ has been posted on the change.org website and has received more than
1,600 signatures.

Hira has been approached for comment.

Mr Todd also called for a change in the way the council plans to make single member decisions so they can't "disappear without a trace".

In this case, the decision was scheduled in the council's forward plan to be made months earlier, but it didn't happen. This meant when it was made on March 29, nobody expected it to happen.

The council now proposes to make sure if they are advertised in its forward plan, decisions have to be made within four weeks and if not they will appear in the next plan or will have to be resubmitted.

All the documentation on the case can be found at www.hounslow.gov.uk by searching for the papers associated with the relevant council meetings.