According to a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m 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 plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices 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 study revealed.
