Based on a recent poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “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 top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
