Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises 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 take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges 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 very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn 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 policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
