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Based on a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales

Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Strains

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Patterns and Projections

Research of county councils recently further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.

Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.

“Although only one key city is in 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 underscores the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report concluded.

“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”

A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey found.