New calls have been made to reopen a Hindu temple three months it was shut down because of safety fears.

The borough council ended the lease on the building in Darby Close with immediate effect in October following a fifth break-in.

It said that due to the level of damage the facility was unfit for occupation.

But this week the council will debate a motion calling for a report detailing how and when premises for a temporary and a permanent temple can be found in the town.

“This council notes that since the withdrawal of the lease on premises at Cheney Manor Industrial Estate the Hindu community in Swindon have nowhere to worship in the town,” it says.

“In addition, this council also calls on the scrutiny committee to undertake an investigation as to how the lease on temporary premises at Cheney Manor Industrial Estate came to be withdrawn and why no suitable alternative premises have been offered to the Hindu community.”

Coun Jim Grant, who is putting the motion, said: "The Hindu community was promised that they would be found somewhere in Swindon. That promise appears not to have been delivered."

“All councillors want a temple, somewhere for all groups and that is still the case, and a temple in Swindon would attract visitors or permanent residents from all round the world.”

At the time of the closure the council wrote to the temple committee explaining the decision.

“As you know the council has had an ongoing concern about the level of malicious damage caused to the building as a result of the theft of cabling and the SSE substation.” it said.

“The council has no alternative other than to recognise the advice of Hartnell Taylor Cook that the premises are unfit for occupation. The council is unable to repair the building at this time as such works are dependent on SSE completing works to its substation and no timeframe has been provided for carrying these out.”

It upset Hindus around the world and the authority was accused of ill-treating a minority.

But Coun Keith Williams explained an independent survey highlighted a number of issues with the building from a health and safety perspective.

He said: “The building got broken into, cabling was damaged, the electricity substation for the building was damaged. As a result, there were concerns over the earthing of the electrics. That was one of the factors.

“The generator that we put in, that has been connected through to the earth was only intended to be run for short periods.

“So, what legal basis advice was that actually we can’t allow people, we do need to act today.

“The front part of the building is being used for some temple purposes. It obviously generates fumes because it’s a generator. They thought for short periods of time the fume levels wouldn’t build up, but they had a concern that long periods of running, that would be a problem.”