According to a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the latest deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“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 demand,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
