According to a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
