Across the West of England, local councils are grappling with surging debts, prompting a wave of asset sales that has reshaped communities and sparked a wider debate about the future of public services. In the past year alone, council debt in the region has soared by £241 million, according to a BBC investigation, with authorities selling everything from airports to care homes in a bid to balance their books.
One of the most high-profile sales was Gloucestershire Airport, jointly owned by Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucester City Council. The airport, a familiar landmark with its intersecting runways and green surroundings, was sold in July 2025 for £25 million. As reported by BBC News West of England, council leaders made it clear that the proceeds would be used to pay down debts, particularly those linked to a £7.5 million refurbishment of the airport just four years earlier. Any remaining funds were to be split equally between the two councils.
But Gloucestershire Airport is just the tip of the iceberg. Strikingly, the region’s largest debt increase came from Bristol City Council, whose liabilities jumped by £105 million in the last financial year, reaching a staggering £600 million. The BBC analysis showed that Bath and North East Somerset Council also saw its debt rise by £29.7 million to £276 million, Gloucester City Council by £42.2 million to £243 million, Swindon Borough Council by £23.9 million to £395 million, Cheltenham Borough Council by £3 million to £204 million, and Wiltshire Council by £37.3 million to £420 million.
The reasons behind these mounting debts are complex and varied, but one common thread is the difficulty councils face in maintaining essential services amid what many describe as a “broken” funding system. In an effort to stay afloat, councils have been forced to sell off public assets on an unprecedented scale. The BBC found that hundreds of buildings—including schools, care homes, shops, and offices—are now on the market or have already changed hands.
Take the case of Woking Borough Council, which holds the unenviable record of the highest debt per resident in the UK at £20,600. Facing unaffordable costs for fire safety upgrades and a failed heating system, the council closed the Brockhill Extra Care Home in Clifton Way. The site was sold last year to Frontier Estates, with the expectation that a new 86-bed care home would be built. However, the council was recently informed that Frontier Estates had sold the 1.92-acre site on to supermarket giant Lidl. In a statement, council leader Ann-Marie Barker expressed disappointment, saying, “Throughout the sales process, the council was clear that we wanted the site to continue to be used for accommodation for older and vulnerable residents.” She emphasized that the council’s planning policies still support specialist residential accommodation and that any new proposal for the site must comply with these policies.
Elsewhere, Swindon Borough Council is selling two industrial estates for £16 million to help pay off debt. Councillor Kevin Small, the council’s cabinet member for finance, explained the rationale: “In the financial year in question, the council actually invested £75m in infrastructure, housing and facilities to benefit local residents.” He added, “Alongside this, the Council's finance officers also prudently manage our finances advising on when and how best to sell assets that are surplus to requirements, which then can be used to pay off outstanding debt and interest charges, or allocated to a new capital project. This means we then do not have to borrow additional money, which saves Swindon taxpayers money.”
Not every authority has seen its debt balloon. The BBC’s research shows that North Somerset Council, Gloucestershire County Council, Tewkesbury Borough Council, and Somerset Council all managed to reduce their debt over the past year, while Stroud District Council’s figures remained unchanged. Somerset Council, notably, is one of thirty councils nationwide granted special powers by the government to sell assets to fund day-to-day services—a move that underscores the severity of the financial pressures facing local authorities.
The government, for its part, acknowledges the scale of the problem. A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told BBC News West of England, “While councils are responsible for managing their own budgets, we know that the current funding system is broken which is why we are taking decisive action so local leaders can deliver the public services their communities rely on.” The spokesman also confirmed that councils would receive a £3.4 billion boost in funding for local services, an announcement intended to offer some relief but which has done little to quell concerns about the long-term sustainability of council finances.
Experts warn that selling off public assets is, at best, a short-term fix. Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit think-tank, described the spiraling debt levels as “extremely worrying.” He told the BBC, “That is not a sustainable system. As one local government finance officer said to me, it's essentially payday loans for local governments. I don't think the government would say that's it's long-term ambition. They would say that is what we have had to do to paper over the cracks while we introduce a new funding system for local government.”
Within councils themselves, there are competing priorities and difficult decisions to make. Cheltenham Borough Council, for example, attributed £2.3 million of its £3 million debt increase last year to affordable housing costs, with the remainder spent on other services. The council also repaid £2.6 million in debt between 2023/24 and 2024/25, illustrating the delicate balancing act required to meet both immediate needs and longer-term obligations.
Bristol City Council faces its own set of challenges, with a £63 million shortfall in its schools budget. While it is not yet clear if the council will be forced to sell off any of its assets, the Local Democracy Reporting Service noted in January that it was considering the sale of more than 1,200 council homes to raise money for housing services. The council has been approached for comment but has not yet responded.
For many residents, these developments raise difficult questions about the future of their communities. What happens when cherished public spaces or vital services are sold to the highest bidder? Will the short-term gains from asset sales be enough to secure the long-term health of local government? And, perhaps most importantly, who will bear the cost if the current system cannot be fixed?
As councils across the West of England continue to navigate these stormy financial waters, the decisions made today will shape the landscape of local services for years to come. The hope is that, with promised government reforms and new funding, a more sustainable path can be found—before more assets, and more community trust, are lost.
