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Based on a latest study of local authorities, 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.

Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments 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 face insolvency.

This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Cases of Planned Sales

Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club 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.

Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains

This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Patterns and Forecasts

Research of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.

A network of councils said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.

Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.

“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.

“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.