According to a latest study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn 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 next year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
