🔗 Share this article

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 fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for second-tier cities 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.

Local governments have previously come under fire for selling public land and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Cases of Proposed Disposals

Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains

This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

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

“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.

A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.

Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls

Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived 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 among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.

“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.