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According to a latest study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.

Growing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.

The group noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”

Specific Examples of Planned Sales

Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the plan.

Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Strains

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of essential services, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.

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

He added: “We face population challenges 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.”

Countrywide Trends and Forecasts

Research of regional authorities 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 the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.

Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper outlining those changes has been postponed.

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.

• “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 one key city is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”

One in five of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.