According to a recent study 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.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to 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 extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple 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 was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, 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.
