According to a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue 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 very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently 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 hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
