Based on a latest study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces 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 high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, 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: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains 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 Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
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 increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged 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 a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study revealed.
