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According to a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely 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 intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”

Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals

One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.

• A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures

The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.

He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Forecasts

A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.

A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.

Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.

“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.