Based on a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “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 report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
