According to a latest poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (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 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study revealed.
