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According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.

Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Planned Sales

Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures

The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.

The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.

He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Projections

Research of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children 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 grapple to cope with rising needs.

Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.

“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.