Based on a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
