According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise local levies next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study revealed.
