According to a recent poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the sale 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 owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. 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 necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
