🔗 Share this article

Based on a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Strains

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Forecasts

A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.

A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.

Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.

“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey found.