Cheshire East Council: Police drop probes into land purchases

This is the last in the series of investigations by police into Cheshire East Council since 2015

A long-running investigation into how land was bought and sold involving a Cheshire council has been dropped.

Cheshire Police had launched four investigations into land transactions in Crewe and Middlewich relating to Cheshire East Council.

A file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which has decided to take no further action.

It is the last in a series of investigations by police into the council since 2015.

Three other matters were also previously discarded.

The investigations into Cheshire East Council include a probe into how contracts were awarded , the way funding was awarded to a school and whether pollution data was manipulated.

Cheshire Police has already announced no further action will be taken into those matters.

Neither police or the CPS provided any more detail regarding why the latest investigations were dropped.

Lorraine O'Donnell, the council's chief executive, said: "The CPS has taken the decision to take no further action with regard to investigations into historical land transactions in Middlewich and Crewe.

"This concludes all police investigations into the matters referred by the council, following internal audit work. I would like to thank all those who have contributed to these detailed and complex investigations."