According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
