According to a latest study of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study found.
