Based on a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases 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 some of these require time to deliver 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 revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
