According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many 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 most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“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 a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
