According to a recent survey of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains
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 council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver 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 drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers 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 one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
