According to a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey found.