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

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Planned Sales

One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures

The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.

The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.

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

Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls

According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.

“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.

“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

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