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Based on a new study of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.

The group said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Planned Disposals

One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.

• A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains

This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve 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 unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Projections

Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.

Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the latest deprivation indices,” said the study.

“While only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.

“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”

A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.