Based on a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
