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Based on a new poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, 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 raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage increasing financial challenges.”

Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals

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 another town to raise £20m over five years.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Strains

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.

He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is very challenging.”

National Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals needing Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage rising needs.

Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Financial Gaps

According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the latest IMD measures,” noted the report.

“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of challenges facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”

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