Based on a new study of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, 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 children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services 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 drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
