According to a latest study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals 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 certain measures 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 strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
