According to a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth 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 clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
