Based on a new survey of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating 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 proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report 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 deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
