Based on a latest poll of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured 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 owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
