According to a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase local levies next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
