🔗 Share this article

Based on a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.

Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Cases of Planned Sales

One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Strains

This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.

The authority 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 deliver both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.

He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase 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 Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing Send support.

The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.

Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls

According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the latest deprivation indices,” said the report.

“Although only one key city is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.