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Based on a recent study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Examples of Planned Sales

One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.

Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains

The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.

Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.

He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.

Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.

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

“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.

“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”

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