According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated 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 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £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 special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
