A COUNCIL with £2.5 million locked in an Icelandic bank says more news on the trapped money will be coming soon.

And the leader of Wycombe District Council again pledged next year’s council tax levels would not be affected, even if the money could not be reclaimed.

The council is trying to recover the funds from Glitnir, one of the banks hit by the economic crisis.

Cllr Lesley Clarke told a meeting of Wycombe District’s full council last night there was an ‘Old Glitnir’ and ‘New Glitnir’ bank. Old Glitnir is currently under protection from legal action taken by creditors, while New Glitnir is still operating fully to domestic customers in Iceland.

She said a group of solicitors were working on behalf of British local authorities, and clarification was still being sought over whether the deposits were resting in the old or the new bank.

She added confirmation was expected later this month, after discussions are held in Reykjavik.

She said: “All legitimate steps have been taken in order to reduce any loss to the council.

“It’s still ongoing and there’s still a lot of work to do.”

Cllr Clarke told the council it wasn’t known until September there was any problem with the bank, at which point it was too late to withdraw any money.

But she remained hopeful the funds could be reclaimed, and said even if the money was lost, council tax payers would not be affected next year.

She said: “I always look on the positive side. I hope we will get our money back. In the event we do not get the £2.5 million back then this will impact on the funding of capital programmes but will have no effect whatsoever on council tax levels for 2009/ 2010.”

When pressed by Cllr Glyn Galbraith, Cllr Clarke said it was too soon to say whether the trapped money would affect any other services.

She said: “We do not intend to take anything away from anybody “One cannot say from one moment to the next whether we’ll be cutting anything, or even increasing anything.”