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Based on a latest poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.

Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures

This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Forecasts

A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched 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 grapple to manage increased demand.

Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.

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

“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”

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