According to a recent survey of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study revealed.
