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According to a latest study of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK stated that six out of ten of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Councils have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”

Specific Examples of Planned Sales

Medway Council in Kent said its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said a council leader.

He added: “We face population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Forecasts

Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms has been postponed.

Deprivation and Funding Gaps

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the latest deprivation indices,” said the study.

“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.

“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.

“Without this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”

A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.