According to a latest study of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
