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According to a recent study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, 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 authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over five years.

• A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.

Local Levy Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures

This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.

The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.

He added: “There are 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 extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Forecasts

A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.

Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “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 report.

“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

A fifth of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.