Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study revealed.
