According to a new study of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in Kent announced 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.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
