According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
