According to a recent poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
