According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
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 the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
