Based on a new poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
