According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said 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 temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
