According to a recent study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for 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 playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned 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
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
