🔗 Share this article

Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.

Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition said that a high proportion of authorities seeking 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 service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Proposed Sales

Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

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

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.

He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.

A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.

Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Member cities like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the latest IMD measures,” noted the study.

“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges confronting local leaders 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 funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”

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