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Based on a recent study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.

Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties 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 face insolvency.

The group said 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 said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Proposed Sales

One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures

This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

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

A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.

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

“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.

“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 deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.