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Based on a new study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.

Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking 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 prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”

Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals

Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.

Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Strains

The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.

He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase 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.”

National Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with 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 Gaps

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

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

“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”

One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey found.