According to a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, 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 improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
