Based on a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
