Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges confronting 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 fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study found.
