Based on a recent poll of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten 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 land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
