According to a recent poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
