Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
