According to a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“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 most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
