Based on a recent poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
