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According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.

Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.

• A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures

This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.

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

National Trends and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.

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

“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

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