Work to refurbish a health centre in the Highlands is to continue after cross party work persuaded the Scottish Government to fund the project.

The £2.4 million upgrade to Grantown Health Centre was put on hold even though construction was well under way.

It followed a pause on all NHS capital projects in Scotland due to a £1.5 billion budget black hole.

Local campaigners supported by MSPs and NHS Highland have been arguing for the £400,000-£500,000 needed to complete the work.

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Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing, who raised the issue at Holyrood, argued that pausing the work would end up costing far more in the long run.

He joined forces with fellow Highland MSPs, the Conservative's Ed Mountain and Labour's MSP Rhoda Grant in a cross-party campaign involving doctors from the health centre to overturn the government's decision.

The campaigners gathered at the health centre yesterday to announce their victory following a meeting held recently with health secretary Neil Gray.

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Mr Ewing said: "This has been a cross-party campaign with Rhoda Grant, Ed Mountain and myself working together without party political difference to achieve an outcome which we all felt was a no-brainer, really."

The project is the last part of the wider Badenoch and Strathspey redesign.

This included the construction of a new community hospital in Aviemore and refurbishment of Kingussie and Grantown health centres.

The main extra costs of the Grantown project arise from having to continue to use the Ian Charles Hospital, an old building which is no longer fit for purpose.

Mr Ewing said: "Had the funding remained withdrawn, then very quickly the extra costs of using the old building would rapidly exceed the £500,000, which would be the notional saving.

"The campaign was predicated firstly on the basis that it was a false economy."

He added: "This has truly been a community campaign and we have succeeded."

A meeting about the crisis was attended by more than 300 people last month.

Mr Ewing said this was instrumental in reversing the government's decision.

"Had those 300 people not turned out, and if others had not written to the health secretary, we would not be here and I doubt we would have won this campaign.

"It was the people of Grantown and vicinity, at the end of the day, who ensured we can make this happy announcement."