Based on a new study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
