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According to a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.

Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have previously 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 councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to manage growing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Planned Disposals

One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.

• A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures

This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.

Medway council explained it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist 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.”

National Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.

The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.

Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas 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 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.

“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated a council leader.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”

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