Based on a latest survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead 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 innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
