According to a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal 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, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to 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 extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, 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 survey found.
