According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study found.
