According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest 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 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
