Costs incurred following a fire which severely damaged a Pembrokeshire school will be recovered from contractors if they are found to be liable, members of a council committee heard.

Manorbier Church in Wales VC School and its adjoining schoolhouse was severely damaged by a fire on October 11, which broke out in the school roof space.

Pupils and staff were successfully evacuated with no injuries.

Since then, a ‘school from school’ has been successfully set up in Jameston Village Hall, after a brief period of sanctuary at the nearby Buttyland caravan site, with councillors voting last month for pupils to remain at the hall until the school is rebuilt.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s insurers say the fire was accidentally started while ‘hot works’ were being carried out by contractors to renew an adjacent flat roof.

However, senior councillors have previously that no liability has – to date – been accepted.

The March meeting of the council’s Cabinet heard the council’s insurer says that works on the school to return it to a pre-fire state “should progress as a matter of urgency;” and that a policy excess of £200,000 will need to be met from the council’s insurance reserve.

That meeting heard the majority of costs were likely to be met from the council’s insurers, with the caveat of the – as yet – unknown issue of liability and its effect on the excess.

At the April 17 meeting of the council’s Schools and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Committee, members received an update on the school, hearing a final report from the insurers had been completed, with a meeting expected to take place later this month.

Councillor Mike Stoddart asked whether the contractors’ insurers were being pursued to cover the policy excess, asking whether – if liability was accepted – they would cover the whole cost or the excess.

“If I had a contractor and my house was on fire, I’d expect him to pay the whole repair,” Cllr Stoddart added.

Cabinet Member for Education and Welsh Language Guy Woodham said the decision had been made to start ‘making safe’ works on the site, adding: “The legal issues are not straightforward but will be robustly taken forward.

“At this stage it’s still subject to legal discussion. The excess will be covered by a fund the council holds for insurance excess.”

He said that, if liability was found or accepted, the council would “pursue for the full maximum claim of the costs associated with the fire,” adding: “However, should that fail we have sufficient insurance as an authority.

“The question is of determining clear liability, once that’s determined I would expect the allocation of which insurance is covering the damage.”