Based on a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“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 demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
