According to a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money 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 utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study found.
