Based on a new poll of local authorities, 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.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” 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 central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
