🔗 Share this article

Based on a recent study of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.

Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals

One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.

Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.

He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Patterns and Projections

Research of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.

Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.

“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.

“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”

A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey revealed.