A sports charity for young people claims Brent Council is "dragging its feet" over a disused library building they hope to rent as their new centre.

Track Academy, run by Brent resident Connie Henry, offers sports activities to disadvantaged children, as well as maths GCSE revision sessions.

The group has been looking for a new site to run their activities from, and when Barham Park Library in Wembley closed due to funding cuts last year, they jumped at the chance to rent it.

Brent Council showed group leaders around in October and at first, the council seemed quite positive about letting them use the abandoned building.

But despite having the £10,000 a year rent money available, with funding from sponsors like Comic Relief, they claim the council keeps “fobbing them off with half-hearted excuses” while missing out on thousands of pounds of revenue in the process.

Ms Henry, 40, said: “We have been going to and from the council since October, and the delays are unacceptable. I am getting more and more aggravated as the weeks pass.

“I have been passed round from person to person and nobody is giving me a straight answer. I am just getting short, stark replies and curt emails from council officials, telling me the investigation is pending. I am still trying to find out how much the business rates are, but nobody seems to know.

“Don’t they realise they are doing to the children we are trying to help?

She said that the group, which currently runs from a cramped room in Willesden Sports Centre, wants to branch out and expand revision sessions for science and maths. But without adequate facilities, this will not be possible.

Track Academy also proposed to refurbish Barham Park Library to provide a new indoor sports centre, a study space, an office, mentoring rooms and computer rooms.

Ms Henry, who has been running Track Academy for four years, says she feels the council is “letting down” the disadvantaged children of Brent.

She added: “We are asking nothing more but to pay the council money – we don’t want anything for free and we don’t want any favours. We are getting no help and getting nothing back, it’s disgusting.”

The group’s plight has been supported by Councillor Paul Lorber, who accused the council of being “pig-headed”.

Cllr Lorber, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in Brent, explained the council have now decided to do a feasibility study into whether Track Academy would make could use of it.

He said: “This is racking up taxpayers money and it’s such a waste. Track Academy could be making good use of it. It’s disgraceful the way the council is dragging its feet about it.

“It’s unfair that children are missing out over this. They could have been using the centre for eight months already.

“I think Track Academy is a wonderful scheme that has a lot of potential. Surely we should be helping local groups like it make the best use of our buildings?

A statement from Brent Council explained the Barham Park land and buildings are held by the council on trust, and there are legal requirements to act in accordance with this.

It added: “We are currently working with the Charities Commission to agree what uses would or would not be appropriate, so we cannot entertain the offer from Track Academy at the moment.

“Track Academy are fully aware of this. We have provided the information about the property but, to date, they have not submitted any formal offer. We are currently proposing a brief feasibility study of the buildings to ascertain the options for their future use.”