According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council 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 the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council 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 short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged 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 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” 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 actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
