Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said 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 taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit £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 the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
