Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
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 temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
