Based on a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK stated that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained 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 short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
