According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating 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 continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises 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 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 central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
