According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area 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 extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” 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 residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
