Based on a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained 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 adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist 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 very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple 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 has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
