According to a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next April to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
