Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition 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 largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council 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 adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
