Based on a latest poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
