According to a latest study of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
