According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
