According to a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
