Based on a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money 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 prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- 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 plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, 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 adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
