According to a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend 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 quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among 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,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey found.
