Key Points
- Extension of the Contract: The Labour Cabinet of Ealing Council voted to extend the contract for another five years to Greener Ealing (GEL), making a total contractual period of 15 years until 2035.
- Challenge by Call-In: The call-in is lodged for challenging the decision of awarding the £350 million whole-life value contract without a fair open competitive market tender.
- Arguments Against the Decision: At the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, October 22, Jonathan Oxley, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Finance, Councillor, made remarks regarding lack of transparency owing to non-conducted open tendering, adding that there have been missed assisted collections for the vulnerable and elderly people since 2020.
- Cabinet Response: The Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Councillor Dominic Moffit, justified the decision by saying that there is no requirement for the procurement process for an extension of local authority-owned company contract, adding that it will cost them GBP 120,000 and also pointing out that the figure of missed assisted collection was 0.3 per cent of weekly figures.
- Outcome of the Committee: After deliberations, the Labour-majority Overview and Scrutiny Committee rejected the call-in.
uk/local/ealing/">Ealing (West London Times) October 27, 2026 – Ealing Council has firmly rejected a cross-party opposition bid to overturn a controversial five-year contract extension for its in-house waste and street cleaning company, Greener Ealing. The decision, which extends the council’s relationship with the firm to a total of 15 years, faced intense scrutiny over its lack of competitive market tendering and concerns regarding service consistency for vulnerable residents. Despite opposition warnings that the multi-million-pound agreement lacked sufficient transparency, the Labour-majority scrutiny committee voted to uphold the cabinet’s original ruling.
Why Did Ealing Council Reject the Opposition’s Call-In Against Greener Ealing?
The controversy began when Ealing Council’s Labour Cabinet decided on October 7 to award a five-year contract extension to Greener Ealing (GEL), a company owned by the local authority but operated independently. As reported by Philip James Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter for My London, the opposition utilized its constitutional power to “call-in” the executive decision before it could be finalized.
Presenting on behalf of 18 requisitioning councillors across political groups, the Liberal Democrats argued that bypassing an open competitive market tender for a contract with a whole-life value estimated at approximately £350 million was disproportionate and lacked transparency.
Speaking at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, October 22, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Finance, Councillor Jonathan Oxley, criticized the administration’s approach. As reported by Philip James Lynch of My London, Councillor Jonathan Oxley stated that:
“The administration is proposing to extend Greener Ealing’s contract until 2035. It is highly unusual for an extension of this size, circa £350 million (whole-life value), to be non-competitive, and this alone warrants further scrutiny.”
What Concerns Were Raised Over Vulnerable Resident Collections?
Beyond financial transparency, the opposition highlighted performance inconsistencies across the borough, specifically pointing to ongoing failures regarding vulnerable residents.
As reported by Philip James Lynch of My London, Councillor Jonathan Oxley emphasized the issue of missed collections, stating:
“The target for missed assisted collections for disabled and elderly residents is zero, yet GEL has persistently missed that target since 2020, disproportionately impacting vulnerable residents. None of us should be content with this.”
Furthermore, as reported by Philip James Lynch of My London, Councillor Jonathan Oxley added:
“This is not an ideological debate… we don’t object in principle to services being delivered by a local authority-owned company like GEL, provided it performs well and it offers value for money. Unfortunately, GEL’s performance is distinctly average, and that is simply not good enough for our borough.”
The call-in submission asserted that the Cabinet relied too heavily on the conclusions of the independent Ealing Shadow Bid and Value Assessment, prepared in June 2026, which evaluated historical performance and reduced complaint volumes as primary evidence of strong delivery.
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How Did Ealing Council Defend the Greener Ealing Decision?
Addressing the committee, Councillor Dominic Moffit, the Cabinet Member for Climate Action, pushed back against the assertions made by the opposition.
As reported by Philip James Lynch of My London, Councillor Dominic Moffit told the committee that it was not an “uncompetitive process”, claiming a full tendering process would have cost £120,000 rather than £12,000.
Elaborating on the legal and financial framing, as reported by Philip James Lynch of My London, Councillor Dominic Moffit stated:
“As a local authority-owned company, a decision to extend the contract by the council does not need to go through any kind of procurement process. The financial advice from the independent adjudicator was that we had taken the most appropriate course of action… In the last couple of years, there have been between eight and 10 missed assisted collections. There are 3,000 in the borough every week, every fortnight – that’s 0.3 per cent of those collections that are being missed.”
Defending the standard of care for vulnerable citizens, as reported by Philip James Lynch of My London, Councillor Dominic Moffit added:
“While the target is zero because we absolutely want to make sure we get all of those done, I don’t think we should think that this represents some enormous egregious failure of service delivery to some of our most vulnerable residents, who are actually well looked after by GEL across the borough.”
After hearing all arguments, the committee – which features a Labour majority – voted to reject the call-in, ultimately upholding the original cabinet decision to extend Greener Ealing’s mandate through to 2035.
Background of the Particular Development
The establishment of Greener Ealing (GEL) as an independent, council-owned enterprise formed part of a wider municipal strategy by Ealing Council to bring key environmental services back under local authority influence rather than relying entirely on external private contractors. Local authorities across the United Kingdom have increasingly explored Local Authority Trading Companies (LATCos) to retain greater control over service quality, workforce standards, and environmental targets. However, extending these contracts without open market testing frequently draws political friction. Opposition groups consistently scrutinize non-competitive arrangements, arguing that market testing is essential to guarantee optimal taxpayer value, while administrations defend in-house models as resilient, mission-driven alternatives that protect jobs and avoid costly procurement cycles.
This decision solidifies Ealing Council’s long-term reliance on an in-house operating model for waste management and street cleaning through the next decade. For the residents of Ealing, and particularly elderly or disabled service users who depend on assisted collections, this development means that service standards will remain tied directly to Greener Ealing’s internal performance metrics without the disruption of a transition to a new private contractor. However, because the Overview and Scrutiny Committee rejected the call-in along party lines, local political tension around waste management efficiency is likely to persist. Residents may experience heightened scrutiny from local opposition councillors over missed collection targets, forcing the council administration to maintain rigorous internal oversight to justify bypassing the open market tender.
