Based on a new poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are 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 over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
