The saga of Brierfield Mills continues.

Islamic Help’s plans for a 5,000 place boarding school for Muslim girls in a converted former medical fabrics factory convulsed my Pendle constituency last year.

No-one had any idea what was happening. The local council seemed to be in the dark. There was no paperwork. No detailed plans. Nothing.

Local journalists struggled to piece it all together.

Then the Charity Commission stepped in at my invitation and ruled that Islamic Help had appealed for donations for a purpose outside its charitable objects and the money would have to be returned.

Only now do the trustees want to meet me “to clear away some of the confusion”.

Not before time, I’d say.

I have told them I am more than happy to meet but, before doing so, I would need to be assured that all the money donated to the Pendle Boarding School for Girls project had been returned to the donors.

I also want to see a statement about the appeal posted on the charity’s website.

Hopefully, the smoke will soon begin to clear.