According to a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club 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 Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study revealed.
