Based on a new study of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces 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 high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
