According to a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
