Based on a recent poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey found.
