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According to a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather growing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Planned Sales

One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains

This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.

He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”

Countrywide Patterns and Projections

Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.

Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Funding Gaps

Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.

“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”

A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.