Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
