Ealing Conservatives leader Councillor Julian Gallant has criticised Labour-run Ealing Council’s handling of Broadway Living, arguing the authority waited too long to close its housing companies after cabinet members approved plans to wind up the organisations amid millions of pounds in expected losses.
On Wednesday (10 June 2026) Ealing’s Labour cabinet voted to accept a recommendation to close Broadway Living and Broadway Living Registered Provider, arms-length companies set up to accelerate Ealing’s housing delivery. Conservatives say that this action should have been taken much earlier.
Since 2014 The Council has loaned BL £42.3M to build social homes. Broadway Living’s assets are today insufficient to cover its debts, which means that Broadway Living is now insolvent.
Ealing Council will take over the companies, pay off their debts and bring their properties into council ownership.
The combined losses of the BL/BLRP windup are expected to be £6.5m but may be much more. This loss will be assumed by Ealing Council and paid down over 50 years.
The acquisitions will increase pressure on the council’s Housing Revenue Account and may well result in an increase of council rent.
Several sites in the Broadway Living portfolio were begun by Henry Construction, which went into administration in 2023. Some of the partly-completed construction will need to be demolished, at an enormous cost to the taxpayer.
I attended the meeting of Cabinet and asked portfolio holder Councillor Louise Brett how much grant had been received by Broadway Living from the Greater London Authority and whether this grant would need repaying. Councillor Brett replied that conversations with the GLA were ongoing.
I also asked why no action had been taken until after the 2026 council elections, given that Broadway Living had been in financial difficulty since 2022 or earlier. There was no answer to this, except to confirm that the companies had run into difficulties soon after the Covid 19 crisis.
Ealing residents can expect more obfuscation and indecision by the Labour administration in months to come.
