According to a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds 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 additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
