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Based on a new study of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking 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 restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”

Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals

One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.

Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures

This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

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

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.

He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Patterns and Projections

Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

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

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged 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 IMD measures,” noted the study.

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

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.

“Without this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.