Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead 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 achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
