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Based on a recent poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported 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.

Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Proposed Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.

Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal 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 need to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting creative strategies but certain measures require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said 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 revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

National Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.

The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.

Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.

Deprivation and Funding Gaps

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.

“While only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.

“Without 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 local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey revealed.