A call for a progress update of Haverfordwest’s Ocky White development, which saw the unexpected discovery of hundreds of human remains last year, will be heard today

Dyfed Archaeological Trust started digs at the Bridge Street site after human remains were found during demolition works to prepare for a new £6m food market being built on the site of the old Ocky White’s department store.

The Ocky White building was situated on the site of a 19th century blacksmiths and a burial ground dating back to the 1200s.

Hundreds of skeletons were found in the ancient burial ground, with roughly 50 per cent of them being children.

A call for an update on the development will be heard in a submitted question at the October 12 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council.

In her question, Councillor Di Clements will say: “The Cabinet Member for Place, Region and Climate Change [Cllr Paul Miller] informed council on March 2 in response to a question submitted by Cllr Andrew Edwards that the development would be nearing completion by the end of the year and as minuted: ‘was confident the project would make a significant and positive contribution once completed’.

At the March 2 meeting, Cllr Miller said the overall costs amounted to £5.829m, including a building purchase cost of £288,000.

He said the discovery of the human remains had led to an overspend on the project, saying Cabinet had previously backed revisions to the total approved budget of £12.34m, adding it was “significantly in excess of where we wanted to be when the project started”.

He added: “It has been a wildly expensive and difficult exercise for the programme, but we are confident it will make a huge and significant positive contribution to Haverfordwest when it is completed this year.”

Following that meeting, Cllr Clements seeks answers to three questions:

“If any tenants have been secured and contracts agreed?”

“The last approved budget as of March 2 was £12.34 million. Does this include fitting out cost?”

“If PCC is to fund any fit-out costs does the cabinet member have an estimate of that cost to the public purse?”