According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed 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 some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
