According to a new survey of municipal councils, 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 Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils 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 public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
