Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
