Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
