According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, 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 authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
