According to a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained 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 taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
