According to a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the latest IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
