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Based on a latest study of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.

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

Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding 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, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”

National Trends and Projections

A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.

Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Financial Gaps

According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the latest deprivation indices,” said the report.

“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated 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 disadvantage of their residents.”

A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study revealed.