According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained 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 creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions 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 care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
