Based on a latest poll 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.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
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 creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
