According to a new study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK 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.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “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,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
