Based on a latest poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council 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 take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
