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Based on a latest poll of municipal councils, English councils are preparing to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.

Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating 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 finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Examples of Proposed Sales

Medway Council in southeast England announced its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

The authority explained it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.

He added: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Forecasts

Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.

Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Financial Gaps

Based on the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, several key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in the country.

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

“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.

“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”

One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey found.