Ealing Council rejects call-in over £150m waste contract extension

Ealing Council's Labour Cabinet has confirmed a five-year contract extension for Greener Ealing, the council-owned company responsible for street cleaning and waste collection. The decision, made on 7 October 2026, extends the company's operational relationship with the council to 15 years. The extension is valued at approximately £350 million over its whole life.

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The decision was challenged by the Liberal Democrats, who presented a call-in submission to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 22 October 2026. The opposition argued that bypassing an open competitive market tender for the £150 million contract extension lacked sufficient transparency and proportionality. The call-in submission stated that the Cabinet relied heavily on an independent assessment of historical performance and reduced complaint volumes.

The Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Finance told the committee that extending a contract of this magnitude without a competitive process was highly unusual and warranted further scrutiny. Concerns were also raised about performance inconsistencies, particularly regarding missed assisted collections for disabled and elderly residents, where the target of zero has been persistently missed since 2020. The spokesperson stated that Greener Ealing's performance was "distinctly average" and "simply not good enough for our borough."

Council defends decision

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Councillor Dominic Moffit, the Cabinet Member for Climate Action, defended the decision, stating that a full tendering process would have cost £120,000. He explained that as Greener Ealing is a local authority-owned company, an extension of the contract by the council does not require a formal procurement process. Councillor Moffit also addressed the issue of missed assisted collections, noting that between eight and 10 were missed in the last couple of years out of approximately 3,000 collections weekly or fortnightly, representing 0.3 per cent of those collections. He added that this did not represent an "enormous egregious failure of service delivery" and that vulnerable residents were "well looked after by GEL across the borough."

Following the arguments presented by both sides, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which has a Labour majority, voted to reject the call-in. This decision upholds the original Cabinet decision to extend the contract with Greener Ealing.