A local authority has announced it is seeking emergency powers to close a primary school - after parents removed all of its pupils.

Officially, Traquair Primary, near Peebles, is still open but there have been no youngsters attending classes since the new year.

Now the Scottish Borders Council - which admits parents have the right to send their children to the place of their choice - says it wants the school closed down for good.

At the end of the last academic year, Traquair Primary had a dozen pupils.

Parental choice

But just before Christmas there were only six children from three families.

They have now all been removed by their parents - under parental choice legislation - and sent to another, much larger primary a few miles away.

The council says the school is locked - and it is attempting to redeploy its teaching staff of one.

But Traquair Primary cannot be closed officially without following the letter of the law and the council must now seek emergency powers to do that.

The council first tried to close the school several years ago - a move which failed after fierce opposition by parents.