According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study found.
