According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal 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 owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
