Based on a new study of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue 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 very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
