Based on a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported 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 previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
