According to a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, 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 attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
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 over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
