Based on a recent study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase 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 extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network 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.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged 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 study.
“While only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said 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 cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
