Early years centres across North Ayrshire are to get a £13m boost.

The ambitious plans to develop and expand early years centres over the next few years have now been approved by North Ayrshire Council.

As part of the expansion of early learning and childcare, the number of free childcare hours will almost double.

Many early years facilities will have to be refurbished and developed to cope with the increased provision.

Up to 170 new full-time posts are also expected to be created for early years practitioners.

Councillor John Bell said: "By August 2020, all three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds can access 1140 hours of free early learning and childcare children each year - that's nearly double the current amount of 600 hours.

"We need to make sure our centres are fit to deliver this expanded programme, so over the next couple of years, we will deliver improvements to early learning centres in every part of North Ayrshire.

"We are also investing in our workforce by taking on additional staff and drawing up plans for our own dedicated training centre to ensure we have the very best early years practitioners."