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 assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases 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 certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged 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 study.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
