According to a latest study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
