Based on a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
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 largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey 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 essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, 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 white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions 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 past 12 months, the study found.
