According to a recent study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
