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Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

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 social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.

This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing financial challenges.”

Specific Examples of Planned Sales

Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.

Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures

This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

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

He continued: “We face 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 very challenging.”

National Patterns and Projections

A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.

Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.

Deprivation and Funding Gaps

According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “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 report.

“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”

One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.