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According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.

Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking 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 using financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”

Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals

Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal 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 held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains

This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.

The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Patterns and Projections

A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.

Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.

Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls

According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.

“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”

A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey found.