Cheshire East council says it faces bankruptcy due to HS2 link cancellation

Local authority covering some of richest areas in England says it spent 11m preparing for rail line

A council in one of the wealthiest parts of the UK has warned it faces potential bankruptcy due to the devastating" impact of cancelling the northern leg of HS2.

Leaders of Cheshire East council in north-west England said the authority had spent 11m preparing for the high-speed rail link, and this would now have to be written off. Most of this money - 8.6m - had been funded by borrowing and would now have to be funded from the council's already stretched revenue budget.