According to a latest study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
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 short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, 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 white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
