According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is among 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 highlights the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, 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 study found.
