Based on a recent study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
