Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
