Based on a recent survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members 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,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
