According to a new survey of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.
