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According to a latest poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of councils are intending 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 land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.

The group said that a significant number of councils seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Planned Sales

Medway Council in Kent said 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.

• A local golf course and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.

Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures

This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent accommodation deficit.

Medway council explained it will press ahead 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 creative strategies but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.

He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to 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.”

National Trends and Projections

Research of county councils recently further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage increased demand.

Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Financial Shortfalls

According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the latest deprivation indices,” noted the report.

“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the scale of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.

“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

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