The Charity Commission has told Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice, that the controversial proposal by the Birmingham based charity, Islamic Help, to buy and convert Brierfield Mills into a boarding school for 5,000 girls may fall outside the objects of the charity.

The main 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.

The Charity Commission's Executive Director, David Locke, told the MP: "We were not aware of the apparent intention to establish a school and, on the basis of the information we have seen, would agree that it does seem to fall outside of the existing charitable purposes."

Speaking from Westminster, the MP said: "The Charity Commission is in touch with Islamic Help to seek clarification of their intentions. The Commission will be updating me as soon as their enquiries are complete."

The MP added: "In the meantime, it looks as if the pages asking for donations for the proposed Pendle Boarding School for Girls have been removed from Islamic Help's website."

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