According to a recent study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls 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 planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
