According to a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey 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 spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study revealed.
