According to a new 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 properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue 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 (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said 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 short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
