Based on a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
