Based on a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced 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 business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
