Based on a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload 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 second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to 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.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study revealed.
