Based on a recent poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many 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 most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey found.
