According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase local levies next April to address the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns place in the top 30 nationally under the latest IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.
