Based on a recent poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
