The tender for a estimated £3.1million ‘mobile school village’ for secondary school pupils has been approved by cabinet.

The temporary buildings covering around 4,720metre squared at Portfield (Former tasker Milward site), will be put in place while the new Haverfordwest High VC school is built at Prendergast (former Sir Thomas Picton site).

A report to cabinet on Monday (March 11) said the pre-tender estimate for the provision is £3.1million.

Pupils will be expected to be on site for 140 weeks from September.

Tenders for the supply, installation and rental of modular units (including the installation of utilities connections, a temporary site access and provision of full planning drawings) were invited and evaluated on the basis of a price and quality model.

Cllr Paul Miller said there were cheaper ways to accommodate students during the build.

He saidL “I have had that argument and I have lost” but voted against approving the recommendation.

The rest of cabinet approved the awarding of the contract to preferred tender SIBCAS Ltd for the supply, installation and rental of the mobile village for a period of 140 weeks.

Cllr Bob Kilmister said that approval of the strategic outline case had been approved by Welsh Government allowing for progress to the outline business case stage, adding a “degree of confidence” of support.

Approval of plans to the road infrastructure was still awaited and it was “critical we get this moving so work gets underway and the school is split for the least amount of time possible,” said Cllr Phil Baker.