Based on a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £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 policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers 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 study.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
