Based on a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed 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 innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
