According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed 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 better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms 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 (IMD) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
