According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need 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 explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
