According to a new survey of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
