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Based on a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.

Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Examples of Planned Sales

Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy featured 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 business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the strategy.

Council Tax Increases and Broader Financial Strains

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.

The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.

He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Projections

Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.

Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those changes was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls

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

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the latest IMD measures,” noted the report.

“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” stated a council leader.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the study found.