Based on a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
