Based on a new survey of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises 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 some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
