According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases 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 require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study found.
