Based on a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research 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 April to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.