According to a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing 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.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten 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.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While 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 England. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
