According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said 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 detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
