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According to a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales

A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.

The group said that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

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

Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains

The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will need to increase local levies next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

The authority explained it will press ahead with property disposals 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 financial savings,” said a council leader.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist 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 Patterns and Forecasts

A survey of county councils recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.

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

Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the latest IMD measures,” noted the study.

“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the study revealed.