Based on a latest study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey found.
