Based on a recent survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding 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 temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
