According to a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage 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 detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
