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According to a recent survey of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.

The group noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals

One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains

This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face 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 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Patterns and Projections

A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.

“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Without this, local authorities will continue 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 councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey revealed.