According to a recent poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
