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According to a recent study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.

Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported 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 previously faced criticism for selling public land 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.

The group noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.

Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Pressures

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.

He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”

National Patterns and Forecasts

Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.

Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.

“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.

“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent 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 disadvantage of their communities.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.