🔗 Share this article

According to a recent survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.

Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.

This coalition said that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals

One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.

Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures

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

Medway council explained 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 innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist 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 very challenging.”

National Trends and Forecasts

A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.

Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.

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

“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”

One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.