According to a latest poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed 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 taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering 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 place in the top 30 nationally under the latest deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The figures highlights the scale of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
