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According to a new study of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.

Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.

Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Cases of Proposed Disposals

One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate £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 also be disposed of under the strategy.

Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains

This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.

The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

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

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

National Patterns and Projections

A survey of county councils this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.

Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Funding Gaps

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the latest deprivation indices,” said the study.

“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.

“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”

One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.