Ealing Council takes back about 130 acres of the Southall golf course after September 2027. The club's lender can buy 2.27 acres for a nominal sum.

Ealing Council is taking back about 130 acres of West Middlesex Golf Course in Southall from the private club that leases it. The land returns to the council after September 2027.

Cabinet signed off the final deal on Wednesday 9 September. It settles a legal dispute between the council and the club over breaches of the club’s lease.

The price is a 2.27-acre plot. The club’s lender gets an option to buy it after September 2027 for what the council’s report calls “a nominal amount”.

What cabinet agreed

The council owns the freehold of the course, on Greenford Road. West Middlesex Golf Club holds a long lease on it, dated 4 April 2001. The land is Metropolitan Open Land, and the wards affected are Dormers Wells and North Hanwell.

The report to cabinet sets out four linked steps:

  • the club surrenders its long lease
  • the council grants the club a new short lease on the land until 30 September 2027
  • a second short lease on the pavilion area can run from 1 October 2027 until May 2028, if the lender wants it
  • the lender gets an option to buy a 2.27-acre site after September 2027, tied to an overage agreement

The report says the steps “can only be concluded simultaneously as a whole between the three parties”. None can be done on its own.

Who gets the 2.27 acres

The lender is Greenford Road Limited, which the report describes as the club’s debt funder.

The club has had “financial difficulties for a number of years”, the report says. It went into administration in December 2019. Greenford Road Limited lent it the money to come out of administration in January 2022. The report says the lender is “looking to make a business decision to recover the funding they have put into the Club.”

A plan published with the report marks the plot on the Greenford Road frontage of the course.

The option comes with an overage agreement. The report says it includes clauses “which apply on sale or planning implementation”. In plain terms, those are the triggers for a further payment if the plot is later sold on or built on. The amounts are not published.

What is being kept private

The money is in three exempt appendices, which cabinet agreed not to publish:

  • Appendix 4, the heads of terms, on commercial confidentiality grounds
  • Appendix 5, a best consideration report, on the same grounds
  • Appendix 6, legal advice, which is legally privileged

The council has a legal duty to get the best price reasonably obtainable when it disposes of land. The report says the deal meets that duty, “as detailed in Exempt Appendix 5”. Residents cannot check that claim.

26 objections, none upheld

Disposing of open space needs a public notice. The council ran one for two weeks, from 22 July to 5 August 2026, under section 123(2A) of the Local Government Act 1972.

It received 26 objections. The report says 23 were “created from a template” and three were unique.

Officers concluded the objections did not identify “any substantive grounds which would justify the council refraining from, delaying, or modifying the proposed decision”. The report says the objections and the council’s responses are in Appendix 7. That appendix was not among the documents published with the agenda.

The July call-in failed

Cabinet first agreed the deal on 9 July. At that meeting the cabinet member, Cllr Stephen Donnelly, corrected his own report. It had said the public notices were already published. The July minutes record that they had not been.

Two councillors, Cllr Hersch and Cllr Gallant, then called the decision in. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee heard it on 23 July.

  • Cllr Hersch said giving up the plot to gain control of the rest “didn’t appear to be a good deal for the council”. She also said much of the detail had been kept private.
  • Cllr Gallant said there should be a full public consultation first, including with users of the course and local residents.
  • David Thomas, speaking for the golf club, told the committee the deal was not legally permissible. He said the club’s Articles of Association did not allow it in its present form, and that it could lead to extensive litigation.

Cllr Donnelly replied that consulting on the land’s future was premature until the council controlled it. He said a full public consultation would follow once the deal completed.

The committee voted to uphold the decision. Its minutes say the club’s legal points “could not be taken into account” because they arrived too late to be analysed. The minutes give the plot as 2.25 acres; both cabinet reports say 2.27.

How it got here

Timeline of the West Middlesex Golf Course land deal: lease dated April 2001, club in administration December 2019, refinanced January 2022, cabinet decision 9 July 2026, call-in rejected 23 July, public notice 22 July to 5 August with 26 objections, final cabinet decision 9 September 2026, club's short lease ending 30 September 2027 and pavilion lease to May 2028
The West Middlesex Golf Course deal, from the council's cabinet reports and minutes of July and September 2026. Graphic by The Ealing Post.
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX

What happens to the land

Nobody knows yet, and the council says it has not decided.

The report says options for the land “will be considered after the deal concludes and before the return of land in September 2027”. It says the council “will be consulting on the future use of the land prior to September 2027”. An equalities impact assessment will be part of that.

The cost of looking after 130 acres will also fall to the council. The report says those costs will be assessed after the deal and will depend on what the land is used for.

The club’s own website still sells tee times and memberships. It describes the course as “Middlesex’s Oldest 18-Hole Course”.

What it means for you

If you play at West Middlesex, the club keeps a lease on the land until 30 September 2027. Nothing in this decision ends it before then.

If you live in Dormers Wells or North Hanwell, the consultation on the land’s future is the one to watch. The council has promised it before September 2027 but has not given a date. We will cover it when it opens.

If you objected in July, your objection went to cabinet and was not upheld. The formal objection window has closed. The minutes of 9 September mark the decision as subject to call-in, so councillors can still challenge it.

For other big council decisions near you, see our Ealing planning coverage.

Frequently asked questions

Is West Middlesex Golf Course closing?

The decision does not close it. The club gets a new short lease on the land until 30 September 2027. After that the land returns to the council, which says it will consult on its future use before September 2027.

Who is Greenford Road Limited?

The council’s report describes Greenford Road Limited as the golf club’s debt funder. It lent the club the money to leave administration in January 2022. Under the deal it gets an option to buy 2.27 acres of the site after September 2027.

How much is Greenford Road Limited paying for the land?

The report says the option is for “a nominal amount”. The full terms, including the overage agreement, are in exempt appendices the council has not published.

How many people objected?

The council received 26 objections to its public notice, which ran from 22 July to 5 August 2026. It says 23 came from a template and three were unique. Cabinet considered them and went ahead.

What will happen to the golf course land?

That is undecided. The council says it will consult on the future use of the land before it returns in September 2027.

Sources