Based on a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
