According to a latest poll of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
