Rent row over flagship centre

OLDHAM Bangladeshi Association is due to pay back thousands of pounds in rent to council taxpayers for the flagship Millennium Centre.

It is paying back arrears of £25,644 — £12,566 of which includes disputed insurance charges.

The Charity Commission’s website also states that it has not received accounts from Oldham Bangladeshi Association (OBA), which leases the Featherstall Road North community and leisure centre from the council, for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008.

Councillor Mohib Uddin, Cabinet member for regeneration, wants to know how it was funded and why its name was changed from the Oldham Bangladeshi Cultural Centre which it replaced. But he has been accused of using the centre for political purposes.

Abdul Malik, who will challenge Councillor Uddin for his Coldhurst seat next year, is secretary of OBA and the management company.

Mr Malik is currently abroad. Councillor Uddin said: “I am not making allegations at the moment but clearly there is mismanagement.

“Accounts haven’t been submitted to the Charity Commission and tens of thousands of pounds are outstanding to the council.”

Built to mark the millennium, the centre was a flagship project to bring communities together. It cost £2.8m, including a £1.3m grant from the Millennium Commission. OBA has a 125-year lease and pays £5,000-a-year.

Councillor Uddin says it took him a year to force a meeting of the Millennium Centre’s management board after the Liberal Democrats came to power, although the council holds seats on it.

He claims he then discovered that a board meeting hadn’t been held for two years and added: “The key concern among residents is why the OBA hasn’t opened its membership actively and held a free and fair election for over a decade.”

OBA treasurer Montaz Ali Azad said the debt occurred in the period between grant aid being stopped and the centre becoming self-financing. He also insisted the accounts were up to date and would check the matter with the Charities Commission.

Mr Azad said: “The Millennium Centre is self-financing and is one of the best managed community centres in the country.

“Councillor Uddin is either displaying unbelievable ignorance or deliberately manipulating the facts to stir up ill feelings and tension in the community.”

Carolyn Wilkins, Oldham Council’s assistant chief executive, confirmed that OBA had been paying back its arrears for some time.

She said a close relationship between OBA and the management board may not in itself be improper, as long as there was proper distinction, and added: “We are continuing with the normal council process to recover the money.”