Based on a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals 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 adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes 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 (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 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 challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services 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 survey found.
