Based on a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan 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 held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges 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.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
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 scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions 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 past 12 months, the survey revealed.
