According to a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet 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 asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering 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 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.