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According to a new survey of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.

Increasing Fiscal Pressures Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.

The group said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Cases of Planned Sales

One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

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

Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Strains

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.

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

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.

He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

Countrywide Patterns and Projections

Research of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.

A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Financial Gaps

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

• “Member cities like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the latest deprivation indices,” said the report.

“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”

A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.