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Based on a latest poll of municipal councils, UK councils are planning to offload community centers, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.

Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.

The group noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals

One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.

• A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.

Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.

“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of children and older individuals needing special educational assistance.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.

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

“Although only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.

“Without this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.