According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases 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 social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities 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 disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
