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According to a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet 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 the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group said that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals

One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.

• A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures

The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

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

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

He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

National Trends and Projections

A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults needing special educational assistance.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the latest IMD measures,” said the study.

“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.