According to a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, 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.
