Councils Across UK are Holding Fire-Sales of Public Assets from Libraries to Farms – Often with No Consultation

Across the country, councils facing financial squeezes are selling off public assets to make a quick buck. 

Local authorities in England have suffered cuts of around 50% to their budgets from central Government since 2010, leading to a wave of recent privatisations. 

The situation is particularly dire in councils that have been forced to issue so-called Section 114 notices, where a council effectively declares itself bankrupt, and is put under special measures. Unelected offices then tend to take the reins, in many cases ‘disposing’ of land, buildings and other amenities to raise funds. 

Fourteen such notices have been issued since 1998. Twelve of those have been since 2018, after many councils had drained their reserves.

In many cases, the resulting sell-offs are pushed through with no consultation and, often little publicity. But it’s not just officially ‘bankrupt‘ councils flogging assets. Many more are trying to stay afloat and deal with the soaring cost of borrowing following post-pandemic interest rate hikes.

On Tuesday, Byline Times reported how Cornwall Newquay Airport is being handed over to a private consortium, to offload a £4.5 million annual subsidy from the council’s balance sheet. Some 650 acres of public land surrounding the airport will reportedly be gifted to sweeten the deal.

Following responses from readers, we’ve compiled a list of some recent council sell-offs, many of them controversial, to give a sense of what is being flogged off as local authorities grapple with sky-high debt repayments on their borrowing. 

Cat Hobbs, from public ownership campaign We Own It, told Byline Times: “Privatisation is a one time thing – once it’s gone it’s gone. Selling off valuable assets [is] a huge mistake.”

Readers are encouraged to send in examples of upcoming sell-offs near them to josiah@bylinetimes.com 

Recent Council Sell-Offs by UK Region

London and South East

• Enfield Council: Long lease (effectively selling) of woodland and abandoned golf course to Tottenham Hotspur FC, turning natural habitat into artificial grass pitches for private use, according to local opponents. Currently pending a planning application.
• Southwark Council: Sale of high-value council homes in wealthy areas. The council has also made it easier to sell off property: Previously, “council officers could only approve the sale of council assets worth less than £750,000 with the cabinet’s approval. But now only sales over £3 million require the cabinet’s thumbs up,” Southwark News reported in April.
• Bromley Council: Churchill Theatre, library, and six shops in Bromley town centre are for sale. The opposition Labour Party and local media learnt of the sale through a listing on Rightmove, the local News Shopper reported in June.

Other controversies in recent years include Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council selling off a youth club reportedly worth £1.5 million for £750,000 in 2017, and another property for £1.515 million which resold for £3.45 million months later. 

A reader tells Byline Times of rumours Reigate and Banstead Borough Council wants to sell a local school for it to be converted into a hotel.

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South West England

• Cornwall Council: Pushing through the sale of Cornwall Airport Newquay estate, as we reported Tuesday. Other public land and property are currently for sale, here.
• Somerset Council: In July, the council announced the sale of various properties including the historic Market House and part of County Hall in Taunton. Several industrial estates/business parks are also being sold, according to a Somerset Live report in July.
• Swindon Borough Council: Plans to sell a disused golf course which has become “rewilded” and is reportedly beloved by locals, to developers to cover debts. Thanks to local reader John Ranford for the tip.

Midlands

The big sell-off story in the Midlands is Birmingham City Council. It is offloading huge swathes of public assets after issuing a Section 114 notice in September last year following legal claims for equal pay costing around £700 million. 

Some of the council’s privatisations, as part of plans to raise £750 million over two years to help (temporarily) balance the books, include proposing to close 25 of the city’s 36 libraries and sell the buildings, and selling off 755 properties from the Perry Barr housing estate. 

The estate was originally intended as an athletes’ village for the Commonwealth Games in 2022, but it wasn’t ready in time. Hundreds of flats will sold to a private bidder at a projected loss of around £320 million. 

Other Midlands sell-offs include at Stoke-on-Trent City Council. The (former) Stoke Library is up for sale. Dudley Council is reporetedly planning to close Sycamore Adventure Centre. 

Nottingham City Council has sold at least £64 million worth of property assets since 2020 to pay off debts. 

The council is now considering handing over iconic sites like Nottingham Castle, Wollaton Hall and Newstead Abbey to a charity, though private sales are considered an option, Nottingham Post reported in July. The decision follows the council effectively declaring bankruptcy in November 2023.

In Ashfield, the independent-run council is demolishing “under-used” community centres to build housing. 

North West England

• Wirral Council: Considering selling off two town halls in Wallasey and Birkenhead, as reported by the BBC in July.
• Wigan Council: Closure of a community centre on a deprived estate, to be replaced with houses with “no community provision” in the plan, a reader tells us. We are looking to verify this report.
• Fylde Borough Council: Closed swimming baths in Kirkham, now reportedly seeking a private company to take it over.

Oldham Council is among many in the region in financial dire straits, and likely to be considering its options. 

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North East England

• Gateshead Council: Trying to sell or privately outsource the International Stadium, causing uncertainty for Gateshead FC. The historic former Town Hall has also been sold to be developed
• Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council: You can see what bits of land are being sold here (other councils often have similar ‘For Sale’ pages on their websites).
• Northumberland County Council: Public, open-access land in Amble was sold by a council-owned company in 2022. The sell-off reportedly drew “anger from residents who felt the public should have been informed at the time,” according to local outlet the Ambler.

Councillor Jeff Watson, who chaired the council-run developer during the sell-off in Amble, told a local outlet last October: “There was no need to consult the public as [the council’s company] Advance doesn’t generally consult when they sell land.” 

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Yorkshire and the Humber

• Leeds City Council: Crossgates Library was sold in February for £482,000. 
• Doncaster Council: Sold and “destroyed” public open space at Rose Hill, which had become a “beautiful woodland habitat”, to a housing developer this year according to local campaigners.

From Leeds, a reader tells Byline Times: “Our Labour council in Leeds has sold off various bits of family silver in the last year in order to stay solvent, in the light of the huge funding cuts from central government. 

“The most egregious sell off for me was my local [Crossgates] library, which in it’s heyday won a RIBA award for its architecture.” 

Do you have a story that needs highlighting?
Get in touch by emailing josiah@bylinetimes.com

East of England

• Suffolk County Council: £42 million of asset sales in the past five years (since August 2019), involving 62 pieces of land or property, according to Byline Times analysis. Sell-offs so far this year include Saxmundham Community Hub, Blundeston Whitehouse Farm buildings, Ipswich Former Archaeological Store, and Cockfield Earls Hall Farmland (for context, the council has spent £4.4 million in purchases in the same time frame, involving 23 pieces of land or property).
• Norwich City Council: Sold Wensum Lodge adult education centre this April, despite local opposition.
• Central Bedfordshire Council: Plans to sell 193-acre Holme Farm site near Biggleswade for industrial development, as reported in April.
• Babergh District Council: Sold its council offices, to be redeveloped as housing. The council has since moved its operations to Ipswich.
• East Lindsey District Council: Sold a crazy golf site in Skegness in April, worth £280,000, for just £1. The BBC reported that the council said it had “agreed to sell it for just one pound so developers could start work ‘within months’.”
• Waveney District Council (now part of East Suffolk): Sold Patrick Stead Hospital in Halesworth last year for flats, in what was dubbed a “missed opportunity” by a local councillor. A reader tells us the council also demolished a middle school despite other local schools being overcrowded

East Midlands

• West Northants Council: Selling One Angel Square and Sessions House in Northampton, former council offices. Labour has branded the plans “asset stripping”.
• High Peak Borough Council: Considering selling the Town Hall in Buxton, according to the local paper.
• Derbyshire County Council: Planned sale of a rural car park and picnic site, delayed due to community opposition. More controversially, the council is selling Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, described by one reader as “the last free-to-the-public museum in Derbyshire,” outside Derby, which is run by a different council. As reported by the Museum Association in May

Wales and Scotland

1. Powys County Council (Wales): Started the process of selling a farm near Llanfyllin to raise cash (expected to be around £500,000)
2. West Lothian Council (Scotland): Closed swimming pools and rapidly demolished several due to supposed “arson fears”. [Note: This is not “all” swimming pools as locally as previously reported]. The former council offices are also being sold, as of June

There are other reports we may return to, including the sell-off of “surplus” NHS properties by local Trusts, and concerns – from Edinburgh to Lambeth – over public exclusion from parks for paid events like festivals, which subsidise councils but shut off public access over certain weekends. 

As noted, this is an incomplete list of recent sell-offs by local councils. Get in touch if there are controversial proposals near you which you believe need covering: josiah@bylinetimes.com

Our thanks to the many readers who have sent in tips so far. 

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