Based on a new survey of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
