According to a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said 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 innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services 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 revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
