According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
