Based on a new study of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
