Based on a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex 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 Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials 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
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
