Based on a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
