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According to a new 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 properties to balance the books.

Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales

One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.

• A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.

Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains

This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

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

He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with 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

Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.

“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.