According to a recent poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, 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 deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices 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 last year, the study found.
