Based on a new survey of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to 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.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
