Based on a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were included in 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 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
