Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed 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 adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated 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 detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
