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Based on a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.

Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up 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 seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Proposed Sales

Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.

• A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.

Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains

This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.

He added: “There are demographic pressures 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 extremely difficult.”

National Patterns and Projections

A survey of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.

A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.

Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.

“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”

A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.