Ealing Labour finally tax developers after 15 years delay!

Ealing Labour have finally got round to introducing the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) 15 years after it was introduced in 2010. This is when Ealing Labour took over the running of the borough. Ealing is the LAST London borough to introduce the CIL having effectively given developers a discount for a decade and a half on their building projects across the borough. It was introduced at the December 2025 Council Meeting, the penultimate meeting of this year before the May 2026 local elections. The planned implementation date is March 2026. 

Given that Ealing borough has had significant amounts of building across the borough over the last decade and a half, Lib Dems estimate that Ealing Labour has forgone £90m in funding which it could have achieved from the construction industry. This could have been used for many different things to benefit residents, including statutory services, such as Children's and Adult Social Care, capping council tax increases or purchasing additional homes to address the current housing crisis. 

The Liberal Democrat Opposition have been hard at work challenging the Ealing Labour-led administration on why they are the last council in London to charge development companies the CIL. 

Liberal Democrat Councillor Jon Ball - Spokesperson on Housing, Development, the Local Plan and Licensing as well as Deputy Leader said: "Liberal Democrats say for a decade and a half, developers in Ealing have paid less than they would have paid anywhere else in London. 

During that time, thousands of luxury flats have been built. Major schemes have gone ahead. Developers have made substantial profits - while this council chose not to apply a levy that virtually every other borough treated as routine. 

The consequence is stark. Ealing has forgone around £6 million a year. Over fifteen years, that amounts to approximately £90 million - money that could have funded better schools, parks, temporary accommodation or eased pressure on children's services and adult social care. Money that could have reduced council tax increases or helped deliver genuinely affordable housing. 

We must not allow Labour to pretend this delay was harmless. Delay on this scale is not a technical oversight; it is a political failure, and residents are entitled to know its cost."