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Based on a new poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.

Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Planned Sales

Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.

• A local golf course and business parks owned 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 Strains

This research of councils in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

The authority 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 short-term housing.

“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures 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 Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.

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

Deprivation and Financial Gaps

According to the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.

“While only one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.

“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.