According to a new study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to 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
A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“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.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study found.
