According to a new study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
