According to a latest study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England 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.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“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 population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
