Based on a latest study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive 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 cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase local levies next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities 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.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
