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According to a latest poll of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to balance the books.

Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to dispose of properties to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to weather growing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Cases of Planned Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over five years.

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

Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains

This research of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the growing cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.

Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are taking creative strategies but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.

He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

National Trends and Forecasts

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

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.

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

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the latest IMD measures,” said the study.

“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated a council leader.

“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their communities.”

A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.