According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK 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 come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
