According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
