According to a recent study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
