Based on a recent study of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted 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 stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue 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 also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study found.
