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According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.

Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group said that a significant number of councils seeking 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 service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Cases of Planned Disposals

One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.

• A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures

The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains 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 Projections

Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.

Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.

“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.

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

A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey found.