According to a recent study of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist 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
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
