Based on a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell 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 representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults 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 cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
