According to a recent survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, 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 address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, 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 achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
