Based on a recent poll of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures 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 very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study found.
