Based on a new study of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England 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 faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “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 growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, 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.
