Based on a latest poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“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 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 extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
