Based on a latest study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals 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 some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue 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 Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study found.
