Councils across the UK have run up debt of almost £100bn – the equivalent of £1,400 per person – analysis suggests.
While 38 councils had no borrowing at all, some owe as much as £3bn.
An analysis by the BBC showed that UK councils owe a combined £97.8bn to lenders, including central government.
Woking Council’s debt is expected to rise from £1.9bn to £2.6bn after it committed to spending £605m on skyscrapers in its town centre and £495m on a failed housing development.
Birmingham City Council, which is also in special measures, spends almost 20% of its core funding servicing its debt.
The rate is even higher for some smaller councils. Tamworth spends more than 50% of its spending power on debt, while for Norwich the figure is 56%.
