According to a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
