Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously 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 asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town 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 additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
