According to a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking 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 focus on restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise local levies next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
