🔗 Share this article

According to a latest poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.

Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.

The group said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Cases of Proposed Sales

Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains

The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.

He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Patterns and Projections

A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.

Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.

“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.

“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.