According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
