According to a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Disposals
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 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said 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 creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face 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 very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% 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 explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
