Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money which was invested by Wiltshire Council into failed Icelandic banks have been recovered.

Around £9m was invested in Heritable and Wiltshire Council last week announced that it had recouped more than £6.127m but was anticipating to reclaim up to 95 per cent of the money.

Around £950,000 of the £6m investment in Landsbanki has been recovered and up to 98 per cent of the funds are expected to be returned to the county.

Wiltshire Council’s chief finance officer Michael Hudson said: “Local authorities are certainly facing new challenges about where they put their investments because of the current economic climate but there are still options open to us.”