Based on a recent study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained 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 temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
