According to a latest study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council 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 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
