Based on a new survey of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
