Based on a recent study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “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 over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
