According to a new study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist 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 extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes 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 latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
