Based on a new study of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties 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 adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, 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 further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected 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.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were among 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 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
