According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise 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 also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is among 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 extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
