Based on a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash 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 majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex 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 generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises 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 a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely 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 next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study revealed.
