Miserly old city council imported construction kit (7)
I believe the answer is:
meccano
'construction kit' is the definition.
(toy brand)
'miserly old city council imported' is the wordplay.
'miserly' becomes 'mean' ('mean' can be a synonym of 'miserly').
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'city council' becomes 'cc' (political abbreviation).
'imported' is an insertion indicator.
'mean'+'o'='meano'
'meano' placed around 'cc' is 'MECCANO'.
(Other definitions for meccano that I've seen before include "Set of metal components for making toy models" , "It's for kids' building" , "Metal model construction set" , "Plaything" , "Building material" .)