According to a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
