Up to 11 schools have been saved from closure after campaigns by local people.

A five-year moratorium has been ordered on the closure of rural schools in Moray after the local council bowed to public pressure.

More than 5,000 people backed the campaign to save Milne's High in Fochabers and hundreds marched in protest after it was named, along with 10 primaries, in a review by consultant Caledonian Economics.

The report was ­commissioned as part of a 10-year plan to improve educational opportunities for all pupils in Moray, as the council seeks to modernise schools in the area. The ­council has 45 primary and eight secondary schools, with a total of 13,000 pupils.

Councillors will now ­examine in detail proposals in the consultants' Sustainable Education Review report relating to issues such as school zoning and shared headships. These will include zoning for schools associated with Elgin and in the town of Forres.

Independent Forres councillor Anne Skene, chairwoman of the Children And Young People's Services Committee, said: "By 2020 there will be 20 per cent above capacity, which amounts to 2,400 spare pupil places in our schools."

But speaking after the debate, SNP opposition group leader Pearl Paul said: "There are various proposed improvements in the report that merit further investigation, but this is long-term work to improve the education of our children.

"While that work goes on it is unacceptable to have the axe hanging over schools the length and breadth of Moray."