According to a new study of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds 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 utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% 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 longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in 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 deprivation indices,” noted 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 the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
