Based on a latest poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
