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According to a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to offload community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Planned Disposals

One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.

Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “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 extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

Research of regional authorities recently further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

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

Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls

According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.

“Although only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.

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

“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.