Based on a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
