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According to a latest study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.

Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases 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 require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.

He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures 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 Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.

A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.

Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.

“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking 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 cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.