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Based on a latest study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.

Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to manage growing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals

One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.

• A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures

This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.

He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”

National Patterns and Projections

Research of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.

The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.

Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.

“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.