Based on a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals 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 innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
