According to a latest survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
