Based on a new study of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to support 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 authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
