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According to a recent survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group said that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.

Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains

This research of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”

National Patterns and Projections

Research of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.

A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.

Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.

“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.