A £73MILLION plan to create four campuses would see nine schools close.

The new North Lanarkshire schools will be created in Airdrie, Coatbridge and Motherwell, if the plans get the go ahead.

In Airdrie, the propo-sals are to amalgamate St Dominic's and St Edward's with a new school on Craigneuk Playing Fields. Also planned for the town is an amalgamation of Dunrobin and Peters-burn primaries, with a new school on land next to the existing Dun-robin Primary.

In Coatbridge, the proposed amalgam-ation of Carnbroe and Sikeside primaries with St Stephen's Primary will see a new-build joint campus next to Calder Community Centre.

And in Motherwell an amalgamation of Taylor High School and Our Lady's High School, incorporating a joint campus with a new Bothwellpark Additional Support Needs High School, is proposed for a site in Ravenscraig.

Bothwellpark now shares a campus with Our Lady's High.

Andrew Sutherland, the council's executive director of learning and leisure services, said: "These proposals give us an exciting oppor-tunity to bring our school estate into the 21st century and build on previous investment in North Lanarkshire.

"The education and community benefits which can be realised with these develop-ments are fantastic.

"The significant capital investment will also deliver consider-able benefits to the local economy.

"Of course, we understand that there may be a number of views on the proposals and we are keen to hear these but I'd like to stress at the outset that we will work for communities to deliver a successful transition for the betterment of our young people."

Consultation reports on the proposals are available on the council's website ahead of a special meeting of the learning and leisure services committee which will be held on Monday, where the proposals and a potential consultation period will be discussed by councillors.

Councillor Jim Logue said: "It's important to state that at this stage no decision has been taken on approval for the consultation, let alone the outcome of the consultation. Nonetheless they are exciting developments with considerable potential benefits for everyone associated."

If councillors approve the proposals, the public will have until Friday, May 2, to give their views as part of the consultation.

stef.lach@ eveningtimes.co.uk