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According to a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Planned Sales

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

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.

Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures

The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.

The authority said 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 temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

National Patterns and Forecasts

Research of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.

Deprivation and Funding Gaps

According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the report.

“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.

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

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

One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.