According to a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
