According to a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study revealed.
