According to a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, 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 study found.
