COUNCIL chiefs have rubber stamped half-a-million-pound plans to give extra classroom space to an Irvine primary school.

Annick Primary School is set to get  three extra classrooms in the shape of portakabins as part of a £548,000 project in order to accomodate the increasing number of pupils.

The Council's Cabinet today (Tuesday, 23 January) approved the much-needed project to increase space at the school.

The Irvine school is designed to operate with 14 classrooms and two General Purpose spaces.

However, one of the General Purposes spaces has had to be used to create an additional classroom due to a continuing increase in the pupil roll.

The school roll is expected to continue to grow to such an extent that a total of 18 classrooms will be required at Annick Primary by August 2021.

To help address the issue, Cabinet has approved a plan to create a modern, three-classroom modular unit at the school at a cost of £548,000.

Cabinet Member for Education John Bell said: "This is not a permanent solution but it is one which addresses the problem quickly and ensures we do not run out of space at Annick Primary in the short term.

“We are experiencing an incredible increase in the school roll so we have to take action and quickly.

"This new unit will ease any space pressures currently being experienced at the school and ensures that it will have enough room to accommodate an increase of pupils over the next few years.

"This will then allow us to consider the best options for a permanent long-term solution."

The new unit is expected to be installed and operational for the start of the new school term in August. A long-term solution is expected to be considered as part of a review of the Council’s capital programme.