According to a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains 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 Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering 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 place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
