According to a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels 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 children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
