According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales 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 taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
