According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead 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 some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to 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 Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is among 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 extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study found.
