Based on a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past 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 property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit 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, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study found.
