Based on a recent survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls 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 the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
