Based on a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
