Based on a latest survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, 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 this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns 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 deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
