According to a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities 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 local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study found.
