According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money 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 utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained 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 creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
