According to a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings 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 fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study found.
