According to a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club 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 Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed 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 creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While 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 figures highlights the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
