Based on a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, 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 authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
