Based on a recent study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest 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 Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey found.
