According to a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
