According to a latest study of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club 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 the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures 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 Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
