According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
