According to a new study of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils 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 council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
