Based on a new study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included 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 Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
