Based on a new study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, 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 Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
