According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, 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 deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
