Based on a new study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being stretched 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 grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
