According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the latest deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
