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According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.

Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.

• A local golf course and business parks held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains

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 need to increase local levies next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

The authority said it will proceed 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 adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.

He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Patterns and Projections

A survey of county councils recently further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage rising needs.

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

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the latest deprivation indices,” noted the study.

“While only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.

“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.