Shabana has written to the leader of Birmingham City Council on behalf of the Muslim Education Consultative Committee (MECC).

The organisation is a well-established charity, embedded in the communities that it supports. It has a track record of assisting residents with applications for benefits, accessing the Household Support Fund, and in preparing for employment.

The MECC recently discovered the building it leases was listed for auction by the council. After Shabana’s intervention, this has now been put on hold.

You can read Shabana’s letter in full below.

Letter to Council Leader

Dear John

I am writing on behalf of the Muslim Education Consultative Committee (MECC) Trust, regarding the recent news that the building they have been leasing from Birmingham City Council since 1998, 91 Court Road, Birmingham, B12 9NQ, is listed for auction on the 16th of May. This auction has been arranged without MECC Trust being given any formal notice from the council.

While Court Road does not currently fall into the Birmingham Ladywood constituency, this will change after the next general election, and I have been personally following the work of the MECC Trust for a number of years.

This is a well-established charity, embedded in the communities that it supports. It has a track record of assisting residents with applications for benefits, accessing the Household Support Fund, and in preparing for employment.

Community organisations such as MECC Trust deliver some of the key advice and guidance services to residents that the council is currently unable to, but find themselves at the sharp end of action taken by Birmingham City Council to plug its financial black hole.

Given the huge importance and value of the work undertaken by the MECC Trust, I request you intervene to withdraw the property from the upcoming auction, and for council officers in the property services team to engage directly with the Chair of the Trust, to find a solution to this issue.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely

Shabana Mahmood MP

Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood