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According to a recent survey of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.

Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals

One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures

This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

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

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.

A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.

Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.

“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” 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.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.