Based on a recent study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals 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 certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several participating urban areas 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 study.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
