East Ayrshire Council has approved plans to relocate a primary school.

Councillors granted consent to relocate St Sophia's Primary School to a shared £3.1m campus with Galston Primary School and Early Childhood Centre.

The council said the schools will retain their own 'unique' identities with the move, while also benefitting from shared resources and facilities at the campus.

The decision comes after months of extensive consultation with a wide range of agencies and groups, including parents, teachers, local residents, the Catholic Church, politicians, trade unions, other local authorities and the pupils.

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Commenting on the decision, Councillor Stephanie Primrose said: "It makes sense to have both schools located at a modern, fully-equipped campus, where they can still function as separate schools, but share some superb new resources, including sports, gym, dining and classrooms."

Many of the new facilities will also be available to the local community and further consultations are now planned on how best the campus designs can adapted to serve pupils and local communities.

In addition, a traffic impact assessment will be conducted to improve traffic flow and parking at the new campus.

(LM)