Based on a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said 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 achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
