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Based on a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

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

Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.

The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”

Specific Examples of Proposed Sales

Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.

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

Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Strains

This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals 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 adopting creative strategies but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.

A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.

Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls

According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.

“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.

“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

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