According to a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader 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 council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
