According to a latest study of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism 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 face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
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, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although 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 confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
