Based on a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support 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 seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices 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 survey found.
