Based on a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council 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 short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although 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 worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
