According to a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures 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.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle 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 setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, 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.
