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According to a recent study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.

Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring 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 children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

National Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing 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 manage increased demand.

Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls

Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.

“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey found.