According to a latest study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
