Based on a latest poll of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
