Local authorities across the UK are selling off public assets – such as schools and care homes – to try and reduce a collective debt of £122bn.
The combined debts of councils grew by 7% last year and is now equivalent to £1,700 per UK resident, according to research by the BBC.
Local authorities sold £2.9bn of public assets over the past two years.
Chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), Dr Jonathan Carr-West, commented that ‘public value’ would continue to be eroded until the Government came up with a long-term solution to council debt.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman acknowledged that the council funding system is ‘broken’ and said the Government was taking ‘decisive action’ to fix it.
