According to a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council 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 taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
