Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy 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 commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
