SCHOOLS in West Devon are set to benefit from a big boost to the county's school building programme.
Devon County Council has secured the third highest spending allocation in the country from the Government.
The announcement means there will be almost £16-million available to be spent across the county on expanding schools to cope with growing pupil population.
Major expansions in secondary schools in West Devon are planned, and some primary schools in the area are likely to be expanded as well.
More than half of the money will go to pay for the completion of projects already underway, under the county's rolling programme of school buildings.
However, £6.68-million will be available to spend on brand new schemes.
These will be necessary to accommodate the rising number of secondary schools pupils in Devon — 2,000 extra places will be required by 2004.
Devon County Council's executive chairman for schools, John Hart, said: 'This is a major boost for our capital programme.
'It will enable us to continue the significant expansion of Devon's school system to meet the needs of our rising pupil population.'
Mr Hard added: 'The allocation reflects the fact that Devon is one of few local authorities with growing school numbers.'
There will also be a further £7-million pot county-wide for improving and modernising outdated school buildings over the next two years, following a separate announcement by education ministers.
Devon County Council will confirm the exact scale of its capital programme in the New Year, allocated on a need basis and based on the details that were presented to the Government.