According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase 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 extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
