Local authorities are expected to lose millions of pounds worth of business rates due to Debenhams' financial difficulties, experts have said.

Debenhams will close a third of its 166 UK stores to allow it to continue to trade.

Ratings experts Colliers International have estimated that this will affect 59 councils, which will lose out on £8.5m of the £17.3m in bills that Debenhams would have paid if all of its stores remained open.

Head of business rates at Colliers, John Webber, said: ‘Local authorities will not have the funds they have budgeted for to run local services, which we already know are tightly stretched.'