Based on a new study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
