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According to a recent survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Proposed Sales

Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.

• A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.

The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

Countrywide Trends and Forecasts

A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.

A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.

Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls

Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.

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

“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”

One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.