According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet 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 budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived 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 confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist 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 reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
