Based on a new study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises 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 some of these require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
