According to a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt 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 rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains 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 Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple 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 was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities 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 one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
