According to a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
