Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
