According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said 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 some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils 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 councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study found.
