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According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.

Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Cases of Proposed Sales

Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains

The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.

He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

Research of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.

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

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were among the most deprived in England.

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

“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.

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

“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”

A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.