According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of 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.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges 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 very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
