According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- 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 Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“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 increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
