Based on a latest study of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, 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 achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
