Based on a recent study of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet 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 argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although 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 worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
