Based on a recent poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
