Based on a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town 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 additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges 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 very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils this week further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
