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According to a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Examples of Planned Disposals

One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town 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 additionally be sold under the strategy.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures

This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.

Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

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

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.

“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”

One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.