Pendle Boarding School For Girls

EDM number 631 in 2009-10, proposed by Gordon Prentice on 18/01/2010.

That this House notes the reported purchase of Brierfield Mills by the Birmingham-based charity, Islamic Help, whose website invites donations to convert the seven acre former medical fabrics factory into the UK's largest boarding school for Muslim girls; observes that £500 would go towards student accommodation, £5,000 towards a classroom and £20,000 towards a computer lab; further notes that Islamic Help's primary charitable object is the relief of financial hardship including hardship caused by famine, war or other disaster in any part of the world as the trustees see fit; further notes that Afzal Anwar, a local lawyer whose firm was responsible for the conveyance, has sought to clarify the charity's intentions saying that there would be revisions to the original proposals and that the charity would look to create a sports centre alongside a commercial village housing start-up businesses; calls on the charity to spell out its precise intentions forthwith; believes that Islamic Help is operating outside its charitable objectives; and urges the Charity Commission to take immediate action to return donations to those who contributed to the appeal expecting that their money would help to pay for a 5,000 place boarding school for Muslim girls.

This motion has been signed by a total of 7 MPs.