According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, 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.
