According to a recent study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils 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 public land and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue 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 very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said 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 delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
