According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas 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.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally 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, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase 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 very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study found.
