According to a new survey of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without 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.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
