According to a new study of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“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.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
