Based on a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town 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 also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases 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 deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most deprived 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 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“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,” stated 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 disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
