Based on a new study of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
