According to a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
