The Shareholder Committee of Ealing Council met on Wednesday 16 April 2025 and approved the business plan for Greener Ealing Limited (GEL) for the financial year 2025/26. The committee also agreed that Appendix 1 of the business plan, containing financial and business affairs information, should not be published.

GEL Business Plan 2025/26

The Shareholder Committee approved the business plan for Greener Ealing Limited (GEL) for the financial year 2025/26. GEL is Ealing Council's wholly-owned environmental services provider, responsible for services including waste and recycling collection, street cleansing, parks maintenance, graffiti removal, and parking enforcement. The council's budget for the GEL scheduled works contract for 2025/26 is £29,640,000.

The business plan outlines GEL's approach for the upcoming financial year, detailing achievements from 2024/25 and setting out objectives and challenges for the year ahead. This is the first time GEL's business plan has been submitted for approval to the Shareholder Committee, which was established in December 2024 to oversee the council's shareholder functions in relation to its companies.

Financially, the business plan forecasts a small pre-tax loss of £54,000 for GEL in 2025/26. However, the company's reserves are considered sufficient to absorb this potential loss. GEL is also on track to repay its initial setup loans from the council, with the final outstanding balance of £122,000 due to be repaid by June 2025. The plan proposes using £250,000 of reserves for environmental improvements and £160,000 to fund a business development team. A policy for managing reserves is to be developed in 2025/26. The report concluded that GEL is in a satisfactory financial position, with its budget aligning with council contract costs and supporting the delivery of services to residents.

The committee agreed that Appendix 1 of the business plan, which contains detailed financial and business information, should be kept confidential under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, due to its sensitive nature regarding the financial and business affairs of a particular person or the authority.

The meeting was attended by Councillor Peter Mason (Chair), Councillor Louise Brett, and Councillor Stephen Donnelly. Councillor Paul Driscoll was also present virtually. Officers in attendance included Nicky Fielder, Jess Murray, Rhian Davies, Isobelle Robb, and Paul Davies. Greener Ealing staff present were Kevin O'Leary, Mike Boult, and Katarina Pohancenikova. The meeting commenced at 5:31 pm and concluded at 6:08 pm.