According to a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures 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 Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived 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,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study revealed.
