According to a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties 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 open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey found.
