Based on a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town 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 plan.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the latest deprivation indices,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
