Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples 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 another town to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged 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,” said the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
