Based on a recent survey of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of councils seeking 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 focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, 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 improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated 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.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
