Track the business activity and commercial plans of Ealing London Borough Council — identify tender and future spending opportunities before they reach the market, follow cabinet and committee decisions, and understand the council’s priorities, with intelligence extracted from 612 analysed meetings. Ealing London Borough Council serves around 365,000 residents in west London. Known as the 'Queen of the Suburbs', Ealing includes Southall's vibrant South Asian community, Acton and Hanwell, and has benefited significantly from the Elizabeth line.
Meetings analysed612
Procurement opportunities681
Pressures tracked406
Estimated pipeline value£156.3bn–£168.9bn
Active procurement topics
Over the last 12 months, the most frequently discussed commercial topics in this council's meetings have been IT & Digital (117 mentions, easing), Construction & Building Works (36 mentions, easing), Community Safety (34 mentions, easing) and Housing (23 mentions, easing).
Commercial signals extracted from recent Ealing London Borough Council meetings — approvals, budget decisions and early procurement discussions, before a tender is published.
The committee found the existing licence conditions were not sufficient to manage the risk of illicit tobacco and non-compliant goods, so it imposed a set of new mandatory controls. These include bans on illicit and non-duty paid products, sourcing only from legitimate suppliers, keeping invoices and delivery notes, maintaining supplier verification and stock control records, and making documents available for enforcement inspection.
“The subcommittee considered that the discovery of 3,240 illicit cigarettes and 1.13 kg of Indian tobacco off the store room of the premises was serious and directly undermine the licensing objective relating to prime crime and disorder. The panel are satisfied that the premises h…”
Members approved both the Food Safety Services Plan and the Health and Safety Services Plan for 2026/27. This confirms the council's planned inspection, enforcement and targeted intervention approach for the year ahead.
“So let's come back to the recommendations. There are two recommendations. Approve the food service plans for twenty twenty six, twenty seven. Do we approve as a an in index appendix one? Do we approve?”
The Pension Schemes Act 2026 received royal assent and will require the fund to implement pooling reforms, new policies, and new statutory roles by 31 December. The panel was told it must adopt an administration policy, cybersecurity policy and conflicts policy, appoint a senior responsible officer and an independent, migrate assets into the pool, and sign an investment management agreement.
“Speaker 4: So the pension schemes act 2026, that's now got full royal assent, which is what we've been talking about. Part of the training told you about that. So the big change is that we're now pooling. That's one of the key things. The other thing, as I talked about when we ha…”
Planning permission was recommended and then carried for the former Honey Monster site redevelopment, subject to conditions, completion of the Section 106 agreement and a Stage Two referral to the Mayor of London. The approval enables a hyperscale data centre, affordable workspace, training centre and related infrastructure on the site.
“Subject to the recommendation recommended conditions, completion of the section 106 agreement and stage two referral to the mayor of London officers recommend that planning permission be granted. Thank you.”
Pollet Way Industrial Park was approved for demolition and redevelopment into two modern industrial buildings comprising five smaller units, intended to meet current market demand for flexible industrial and logistics space. The scheme includes servicing yards, parking, landscaping, and a reconfigured internal road to improve circulation and operational efficiency within the safeguarded industrial location.
“This application before you seek full plan information for the demolition of the buildings and the redevelopment of the site to provide two modern industrial buildings comprising five smaller industrial units together with ancillary office within each unit, servicing yard, car pa…”
The council has allocated £1.4 million from its current budget to the Ealing Pride in Place programme for high streets, town centres and open spaces. Officers said the money is one-off revenue funding and must be phased carefully, with an expectation that most of it should reach community projects rather than be absorbed by process costs.
“Speaker 1: It will be complementary to another strand of work, which the the leisure team has secured pride in place funding, which will look at parks, play, and open spaces. We'll have £1,400,000 allocated from current council budget, and the objectives in that comes in approach…”
The committee spent most of the meeting on the call-in of cabinet’s decision on the future of West Middlesex Golf Course, focusing on whether regaining control of the lease through a land swap offers value for money, avoids litigation, and justifies future maintenance liabilities. Members and officers discussed consultation duties, timing, the role of the private company controlling the lease, and whether the proposed deal could be legally challenged. The remainder of the meeting reviewed scrutiny annual reports and proposed items for the future work programme, including adult social care, children’s services, race equality, customer contact, strategic assets, and community consultation.
The subcommittee refused a late-night refreshment licence for Hot Birdies Southall because it was not satisfied the applicant understood local sensitivities in the special policy area or had adequate operational controls for late-night trading. Key concerns were noise, delivery riders, customer dispersal, litter, and the impact on residents above the premises. The decision suggests no procurement commitment, but it does indicate potential future need for compliance-related services or support if the operator revises and reapplies.
The committee covered treasury activity, draft accounts and governance, external audit strategy, internal audit findings, the 2026/27 audit plan, and strategic risk management. Procurement-relevant items included the new Procurement Act compliance work, housing-related repair and safety follow-ups, ICT/cyber and payroll audits, and the council’s use of a resilience contract for specialist audit resource. The meeting also noted treasury balances, reserves adequacy, DSG deficit planning, and governance arrangements for council-owned companies.
The committee heard a licensing application for Hot Birdies Southall seeking later opening, with the applicant’s agent saying the business wants to trade until 2am to improve viability. Members focused on crime, disorder, noise, litter, delivery driver behaviour and the site’s location in a special policy area with flats above and nearby residential streets. The agent offered conditions around takeaway-only trading after midnight and litter clearance in the immediate vicinity, and indicated a dispersal policy and signage could be adopted.
The meeting was primarily an introductory briefing on the Strategy and Change directorate, but it surfaced several procurement-relevant themes: the council’s large strategic commissioning function, plans to improve resident access across phone and email channels, the need to evaluate transformation and connected communities programmes, and ongoing investment in workforce, data, and engagement capabilities. Members also discussed race equality work, communications, and the need to align scrutiny with the council’s change portfolio and resident-facing service improvements.