According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, 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 growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
