🔗 Share this article

According to a recent study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.

Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Planned Sales

One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.

Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Pressures

The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.

He added: “There are population challenges which will continue 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.”

National Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.

The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.

Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.

“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.

“Council officials 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 continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey found.