According to a latest poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “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 revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
