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According to a new study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.

This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.

Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Strains

The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”

Countrywide Patterns and Projections

A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.

Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.

Deprivation and Financial Gaps

According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.

“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.

“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.