According to a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England reported 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 budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
