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According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets 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 planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.

The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals

One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

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

Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises 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 certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.

He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

National Trends and Forecasts

A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.

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

Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.

Deprivation and Financial Gaps

According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.

“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.