Based on a latest survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “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 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on 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 the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
