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According to a new survey of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.

Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales

One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.

Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Projections

A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.

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

Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Financial Gaps

Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.

“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.

“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.

“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”

A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey found.