A cross-party challenge by Ealing Liberal Democrats, Ealing Green Party and Ealing Conservatives over a decision by Labour-run Ealing Council concerning the future of West Middlesex Golf Club has failed, but the controversial proposal could still face a legal challenge.
The council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee voted to uphold the original cabinet decision, taken earlier this month on 9 July 2026, at a meeting last night (23 July 2026). The decision had been called in by 23 opposition councillors. The call-in process allows councillors to formally challenge a decision before it is implemented and seek its reconsideration.
During the meeting, an Ealing resident speaking on behalf of golfers and course users argued the agreement was not legally viable and warned it could lead to lengthy litigation.
The proposed settlement involves the surrender of the club’s existing 76-year lease over around 130 acres and its replacement with a short-term lease until September 2027. The agreement also gives Greenford Road Limited (GRL) an option over 2.27 acres of the site.
Opposition councillors raised concerns over transparency, consultation and uncertainty about the future of the land.
Ealing Liberal Democrat councillor Connie Hersch, the party’s spokesperson on crime, anti-social behaviour, communities and culture, questioned the transparency of the agreement, saying: “Giving away council land to a developer will sound to many like something of a dodgy deal, especially as many documents related to the case were not made public. Surely such a case should demand maximum openness and honesty in order not to fuel further speculations.”
Councillor Hersch also questioned why the council had not revealed its plans for the land once the lease was back in its possession, as well as the potential cost of legal action and the value of the 2.27 acres involved in the agreement.
She called for the decision to be referred back to cabinet for what she described as a “fully transparent and honest report which puts all the cards on the table”.
David Thomas, an Ealing resident and regular player who said he was speaking on behalf of playing members and members of the community who use the course, argued that the proposed agreement was not legally capable of being carried out.
Referring to the golf club’s Articles of Association, he told the committee: “The proposed deal is simply not legally viable.”
Mr Thomas argued that GRL, as a member of the club, would receive an option over land currently controlled by the club and warned that attempting to proceed with the agreement could result in “really quite significant long drawn out litigation”.
Calling instead for consultation with golfers and the wider community, he said: “All we want is a consensual discussion to secure the proper use of the land in the interests of the residents of the borough.”
Green Party Councillor Husam Alharahsheh questioned why wider public consultation was not being carried out before options for the land were narrowed down.
He said that as the site was public open space returning to public control, the issue went beyond a commercial matter between two businesses, asking: “What is stopping us from doing full consultation before decision making?”
Councillor Steve Donnelly, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for inclusive economy and efficiency, responded: “I believe consultation that we’ve engaged in through our statutory responsibility is appropriate, is proportionate and that no value to be had in seeking to invent an an unprofitable and unnecessary extra layer of consultation.”
Councillor Donnelly described the cabinet decision as a “narrow decision regarding the recouping of the lease”, saying no decision had been made about the future use of the land.
Councillor Julian Gallant, leader of Ealing Conservatives, disputed that characterisation.
He said: “This isn’t a narrow decision. It’s the widest possible decision because it involves a wide section of the public that uses the golf club, that has access to it.”
Councillor Gallant added: “It’s also a very wide decision because it’s putting the council in a bad place. It’s making the council look nontransparent. It’s hiding behind procedure to hide the fact that all these things are going on in the background.”
He added: “It’s not just a narrow technical decision. It’s a big public decision and it needs further review.”
Defending the cabinet decision, Councillor Donnelly said Ealing Council’s dispute was with GRL, not the golfing community, and that it was not the council’s role to resolve difficulties between the club and the company.
Councillor Donnelly added there was no statutory obligation to consult golfers because the council was engaged in a commercial negotiation with the controlling interest of a private limited company.
Addressing concerns over transparency, Councillor Donnelly said restricted papers had been provided to councillors and could be discussed among members, but not in front of the public.
Responding to Councillor Hersch’s earlier reference to a “dodgy deal”, he said: “Don’t again keep trying to insinuate that because documents can’t be put in front of the public that that represents some kind of, to use the phrase in your introduction, dodgy dealing. It won’t do.”
Councillor Donnelly said the council first needed to “gain control” of the land before anything could be done with it.
Following more than an hour of debate, the committee voted by seven votes to four, with no abstentions, to uphold the cabinet decision of 9 July 2026.
Voting to uphold the decision were Councillors Anthony Kelly (Labour), Miriam Rice (Labour), Rima Baaklini (Labour), Ben Wesson (Labour), Hodan Haili (Labour), Stephanie Ajayi (Labour) and Hitesh Tailor (Labour). Councillors Kristian Mower (Conservatives), Gary Busuttil (Liberal Democrats), Jon Ball (Liberal Democrats) and Husam Alharahsheh (Green Party) voted against.
After the committee rejected the call-in, Councillor Hersch told EALING.NEWS she remained concerned about the deal: “Liberal Democrats say that the deal will cost the council maintenance money for the club land and because they don’t know the planned use of the land they don’t know if the benefits to residents from this deal are worth it. The land now is of public use and has many golf players but the only sure thing is that the golf club will cease to exist once their short lease extension is up. A representative of players and members of the community who use the course has spoken about legal challenges to the deal.
“The lack of transparency, the missing interaction with the club members, the uncertainty of the deal being beneficial to Ealing borough tax payers, has not stopped Labour members of the judging committee to vote in favour of the cabinet decision.”
Following the meeting, Councillor Gallant told EALING.NEWS: “The cabinet decision on the future of West Middlesex Golf Course, taken on 9 July 2026, was last night upheld at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The decision had been called in for further debate by all Libdem, Conservative and Green councillors. And with reason. The golf club sits on council land and is enjoyed not just by golfers, but by a huge section of Ealing’s outdoor-going public.
“Labour insists that no decision has been taken about the ultimate use of the land, but nobody genuinely believes that. This land is due to form part of the planned Regional Park, for which funding is already in place. The meeting also heard about new legal complications that go well beyond the issue of subletting.
“A big and unnecessary mess is brewing, which Labour councillors could have averted by asking cabinet to postpone its decision until a wider consultation had taken place.”
Councillor Alharahsheh also told EALING.NEWS after the meeting: “The future of West Middlesex Golf Course is about more than resolving a long-running legal dispute. It is about how we manage significant public assets and ensure decisions are made in the public interest. The council’s report confirms that decisions on the future use of much of the site will only be considered after this transaction is completed.
“Residents should therefore have a genuine opportunity to help shape those options from the outset. Meaningful consultation, transparency and clarity of future planning will be essential to building public confidence and ensuring the best long-term value for residents and communities across Ealing.”
Speaking to EALING.NEWS, Councillor Clare Welsby, group leader of Ealing Green Party, added: “In addition given the legal position presented at the Committee last night by David Thomas speaking on behalf of playing members and members of the community who use West Middlesex Golf Course, that the Articles of Association of WMGC render this tri-partite deal illegal and unworkable and the subsequent comment from Councillor Donnelly and others that they did not have the legal knowledge to assess this new information in the meeting should have resulted in the decision being referred back to the cabinet for review, at the very least.”
Ealing Council has previously told EALING.NEWS that the proposed settlement provides a more certain and cost-effective resolution than continuing litigation and that the cabinet decision does not determine the long-term future of the golf course.
It said no decisions about the future of the site have yet been taken.
