Based on a recent study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
