Based on a latest poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- 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 strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities 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 April to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals 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 require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said 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 the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“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 communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
