Based on a recent survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
