The Great British sell-off …thousands of our parks, pools and libraries lost

The outcry came as an investigation showed more than 4,000 publicly-owned buildings are being sold to private developers each year, with no guarantee residents will benefit.

Town halls were given the go-ahead in 2016 to keep the proceeds of the sales. Since then, local authorities have used the opportunity to make short-term financial gain at the cost of losing some of the country’s most valuable assets.

Many are being lost to developers for the highest price and will never again be used for vital community services.

Instead, they are turned into luxury hotels like the former Grade II listed Ealing Town Hall in west London and the landmark Liverpool Municipal Buildings – in public ownership for more than 150 years before it was sold to Singapore-based property firm Fragrance Group for £10.2million last year.

Other buildings like Hornsey Town Hall in north London are being developed into flats despite 600 objections from the community.

The findings are contained in a new report, The Great British Sell Off, released today by the charity Locality.

It reveals the results of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made to England’s 353 local authorities in January.

The FOI findings, the only current indication of the size of the problem, show the consistently high number of public buildings and spaces being sold from 2012 to 2016.

Councils in the North West sold 455 publicly-owned buildings last year with another 610 registered as surplus to requirements.

Authorities in the eastern region sold 756 with 898 others under threat.

In the South-east 872 were sold with 592 set to go on the market in the future.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Councils have a disappointing track record of cutting spending items they see as ‘low-hanging fruit’ before taking on more challenging reforms to their budgets.

“At times, they will target services that are popular with residents in an attempt to get more money from the Government, but they never seem to curb executive pay or pensions.

“Taxpayers who may be disappointed by these decisions should ask their local authorities why high pay is never cut to deal with the reality of less money.”

Locality is calling for more public buildings and spaces to be transferred to community ownership and has launched a Save Our Spaces campaign.

One such saved building is the Edwardian Bramley Baths in Leeds. Locality’s Tony Armstrong said: “As many as 4,131 public buildings and spaces are being sold off a year.

“That’s more than four times the number of Starbucks in the UK. This is a sell-off on a massive scale.

“Many hundreds of local community groups are stepping up and fighting for community ownership. But they urgently need support and help with start-up costs if they are to compete with the commercial developers.

“Funding to support community ownership has dried up in recent years, and the Government, investors and charitable funders must come together to unlock a set-up fund for community ownership,”Mr Armstrong added.

Richard Wattsof the Local Government Association’s resources board, called on the Government to address town hall cash shortfalls.

He said: “Councils take their responsibilities to maintain public buildings and the public spaces in their care extremely seriously.

However, with local government facing an overall funding gap in excess of £5billion a year by 2020, councils face difficult decisions about how best to use their resources to support local services, day-to-day activities and to protect public assets such as buildings.

“Before a decision is made to sell an asset, the cost of selling it versus the benefit it could bring is considered carefully.

“Councillors, elected by local people, understand the deep connection communities have with their public spaces and buildings.

“If we are to be able to maintain them and fund frontline services, the Government must address our funding shortfall as soon as possible,” he added.

The FOI results also show that fewer than half of councils have a strategy to support community ownership and Locality is urging the Government to help protect public spaces with a £200million-a-year Community Ownership Fund lasting five years.

Angie Wright of Leicester charity b-inspired, which is working to save a youth centre from housing developers, said: “We know there will be competition from private and other investors to get the building.

“But the impact of losing this vibrant, respected and well-used centre has been huge for young people and it’s very short-sighted to sell this off for private ownership.