According to a recent study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
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 increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “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 very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding 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 disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
