According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 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 disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey found.
