Thread by @bureaulocal

Today, in partnership with @HuffPostUK, we reveal the scale to which cash-strapped councils across England are selling off public buildings and spaces to make ends meet - and sometimes even using the money to make staff redundant
thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2019-0…
#SoldFromUnderYou

Since 2010, local authorities have lost around 60% of funding in the name of austerity, leaving services shut and buildings closed #SoldFromUnderYou

A 2016 Government ruling allowed councils desperate for cash to sell off public assets - such as community centres, libraries, playgrounds, youth clubs & health clinics - but only if proceeds were spent on measures to save councils money in the future #SoldFromUnderYou

This means that many councils have been selling off buildings and spaces that really matter to local communities - and then, in a double blow, using the money to make people redundant, often affecting vital social care services #SoldFromUnderYou

So - we’ve gathered data from councils across England and worked with over 150 people in our network to find out what is being sold off and what the money is being used for #SoldFromUnderYou

For example, in Birmingham the council used £49 million raised from selling land and buildings to cut costs, including spending a staggering £23 million on redundancies #SoldFromUnderYou

Local MP @khalid4PB told us: “This is an absolutely ridiculous way to do business. We should never have been selling the land that we have inherited from our forefathers. It just takes the future away from our children and grandchildren to come and that is really devastating.”

“The council is closing so many youth centres and they wonder why there are kids out on the streets stabbing each other,” said coach Mark Holt, whose boxing club was left homeless twice after the community centres they used were sold off #SoldFromUnderYou

In Bristol, sell-offs included a historic library for almost £3m - a local activist said: “One of the main issues is the complete lack of transparency. If it was their intention all along to sell the library to fund [redundancies] then people should have known.” #SoldFromUnderYou

The number of Bristol council workers made redundant jumped ten times from 39 the year before the new rules were introduced to 401 the year after #SoldFromUnderYou

Meanwhile, Staffordshire County Council sold seven care centres in the last three years - including residential homes for the elderly and day facilities for adults with disabilities #SoldFromUnderYou

In total, English councils made £9.1billion from selling off public buildings and spaces since 2014/15, and made £3.2billion from sales made under the new rules to fund cost cutting #SoldFromUnderYou

Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier says:“Selling off capital and turning it into resource is a big worry. What happens when councils needs to build more housing or open more schools but they don’t have the space to build in? They are stacking up problems for the future.”

Croydon Council leader Tony Newman agrees: “The sales do plug some gaps but most of this stuff you can only do once. It will get you through three or five years but it is absolutely not the way to fund anything [long term], least of all front line services.” #SoldFromUnderYou

If you’d like to know more about the background to the investigation, and why @bureaulocal and our reporter @Gareth_Davies09 homed in on this story, you can read our background blog thebureauinvestigates.com/blog/2019-03-0… #SoldFromUnderYou

GET INVOLVED: We used our data to create an interactive map of 12,000 assets sold off since 2014/15 - allowing anyone to explore their local area to see what has been sold off, and for how much - take a look here …il-sell-off.thebureauinvestigates.com @outlandish @far_nearer #SoldFromUnderYou

We will be publishing more stories throughout the week, which as a series will reveal the scale of the losses at a local level - of public servants, public services and public spaces #SoldFromUnderYou

Members of our network across England will also be publishing stories on the local impact of these sell-offs and redundancies today and throughout this week - we will add these to this thread as they are published #SoldFromUnderYou

Concerned? What can you do? Spread the word to increase awareness of what's going on. Share our stories via email, social media or on your local community forum and include the hashtag #SoldFromUnderYou

Or use our map …il-sell-off.thebureauinvestigates.com to see what’s been sold off in your neighbourhood and as evidence - if you’re worried about the results you can write to your council and your MP to raise the issue #SoldFromUnderYou

If you have information about a particular local building or space that has been sold off, let us know directly docs.google.com/forms/d/10AIYh… #SoldFromUnderYou

Lastly, if you know of local buildings or space currently under threat, you can tell Locality (@localitynews), who coordinate #SaveOurSpaces, and who also advise what communities can do to save public buildings and spaces locality.org.uk/policy-campaig… #SoldFromUnderYou