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Based on a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.

Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are intending to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have previously faced criticism for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.

The group noted that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would focus on restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Cases of Proposed Sales

Medway Council in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.

Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures

The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.

He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Forecasts

A survey of regional authorities this week also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of children and adults needing special educational assistance.

A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.

Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

According to the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 nationally under the latest IMD measures,” noted the study.

“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.

“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said a council leader.

“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”

A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.