According to a latest study of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils 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 local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey found.
