Based on a new poll of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the latest deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
