"Housing activities" has been given as the main reason for a £211m total debt owed by St Albans City & District Council.

The total amount of debt owed by each of the UK's local authorities has been revealed by the BBC today (Tuesday, January 16), with St Albans seeing a total debt of £211,486,000.

This equals a debt per person of £1,423, with 148,641 people living in the St Albans district.

The local authority has explained that "the majority" of the debt is in relation to its housing stock, with other councils having turned to social housing providers instead.

A spokesperson for St Albans City & District Council said: "The majority of our debt, around £143 million, relates to our housing activities and is not an unusual amount for councils with similar-sized housing stock.

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“This debt is secured on our housing properties, which number around 4,850, and works out at an average of £29,600 per property.

"It is part of our ring-fenced Housing Revenue Account that is separate from our general budget.

“The remaining debt of around £68 million is proportionate to our current capital programme.”