A new £6m health centre for Easter Ross is said to have received a major boost to allow construction of the site to go ahead.

According to the Ross-shire Journal, NHS Highland confirmed that “financial close” on the Tain Health Centre was received last week.

Contractors Miller Construction will now take ownership of the site and will prepare the ground for construction.

The new, two-storey health centre will have 12 GP consulting rooms and three treatment rooms for the two local practices. It will also accommodate a four-room dental suite while the community staff will have two clinical treatment rooms, three consulting rooms, two interview rooms, a podiatry treatment room and a physiotherapy treatment room.

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Nigel Small, Director of Operations for NHS Highland’s South and Mid Operational Unit, said: "This is great news and a significant milestone in the process for delivering the new health centre development.

"This has been a complex development and a lot of work has been happening in the background to get us to this stage.

"Preparatory work will start straight away and people will start to notice things happening like fences going up. It is going to be a busy but exciting 12 months."

The project has been supported by capital enabling funds from the Scottish Government and is being developed through the Scottish Futures Trust hub initiative.

Building works are expected to begin next month with a completion date of April 2014.

(JP/CD)