Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey found.
