According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
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 adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers 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 ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
