Work to replace two primary schools in the Scottish Borders region is to be accelerated, the local authority has announced.

The news comes after the Scottish Borders Council (SBC) agreed to provide "significant funds" to the builds.

The schools being replaced are Broomslands Primary School in Kelso and Langlee Primary School in Galashiels.

The additional funding has been made available after the Scottish Government said it would allocate a further £330m to the Scotland's Schools for the Future programme. With the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) increasing its funding contribution for Kelso High School from 66% to 100%, the SBC has said this has released some £6.4m of its own capital funds. In turn, these funds will help speed up the capital investment programme to deliver the new schools.

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Previously, Broomslands and Langlee primaries were expected to receive a new building between 2017 and 2021, but this has since been brought forward. Both are now due to be completed by April 2017.

The schools will be constructed on their existing sites.

Welcoming the news, Councillor Sandy Aitchison, SBC Executive Member for Education, said: "This is excellent news for the Borders, and for Kelso and Galashiels in particular. Our children and teachers deserve the best environment for teaching and learning that we can provide, and this financial backing will certainly help that.

"Obviously, accelerating these schools will also bring our other schemes further up the queue so that, I hope, other communities will benefit sooner than we previously thought or programmed."

(JP/MH)