According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue 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 assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council 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 financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” 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 local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
