Based on a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms 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 (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
