PUPILS are closer to benefiting from a £150m boost for education after councillors approved new schools.

The money was made available to fund six schemes in Redcar and Cleveland, including three new secondary schools and two primary schools and the refurbishment of a secondary school.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has approved five of the schemes.

Councillors agreed that the building at Gillbrook Technology College, Normanby Road, South Bank, should be demolished and a school built.

They also approved the demolition of secondary Sacred Heart RC School, in Redcar, and St Dominic's Primary School, which has merged with St Alban's Primary School, in Mersey Road, and the building of a replacement primary school and an adjacent secondary school.

It was also agreed that Nunthorpe Secondary School could be extensively refurbished and remodelled.

Last month, permission was given for Bydales Secondary School, in Marlborough Road, Marske, near Saltburn, to be demolished and a school built in its place.

There are also plans to amalgamate Beech Grove and Cromwell Road primary schools, at South Bank, and build a new school, but councillors have still to visit the site before they make a decision on the scheme.

The Mowlem Robertson Schools Consortium has been chosen by the borough council to design, build, finance and manage the schemes.

They are being supported by £48.9m of Private Finance Initiative Credits, which are provided by Government funding.

The rest of the funding for the projects will come from a public-private partnership.

Work on the schools is due to start in January next year and will be completed in September 2006.

Councillor Steve Kay, cabinet member for education, said: "Dilapidated buildings will be replaced by modern structures and facilities that are designed for youngsters of the 21st Century."