According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to 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.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
