According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
