According to a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that 60% 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 land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to raise local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the latest IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
