According to a new study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals 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 largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
