According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre 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 commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
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 revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
