Based on a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach £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 Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
