According to a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land 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 councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained 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 improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely 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 coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
