According to a recent poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
