According to a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise local levies next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
