According to a recent poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds 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 also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises 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 certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase 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 Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
