According to a recent study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for 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.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases 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 require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
