Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money 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 restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
