Plans have been approved to demolish a former secondary school in Aberdeenshire.

The Mearns Academy building in Laurencekirk is to be levelled and the site placed on the open market.

Councillors also agreed to demolish the former Ellon and Alford Academies, both of which have also been replaced with modern community campuses.

Previously, the Laurencekirk Development Trust had expressed its interest in developing the Mearns Academy building and playing fields, with councillors granting two time extensions for the creation of an appropriate business case.

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The Trust is now being urged to produce more proposals for how they might use the field site.

Cllr Martin Kitts-Hayes said: "The committee was unanimous in its support for the efforts of Laurencekirk Development Trust in looking to the future.

"With support from the local area management team, the group has put in a huge amount of work into looking at the future options available for the former Academy and I’d emphasis that our decision to demolish the building and create a brownfield site opens up those options."

(LM/MH)