Based on a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures 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 regional authorities recently further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
