Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “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 extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
