According to a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “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 central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £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 special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
