Proposals for a new multi-million Learning Campus in Pembroke were unanimously approved this week.

The plans, which will see full planning permission for the demolition of the existing Pembroke School at Bush Hill, and its replacement with a new secondary school and vocational centre, were given the go-ahead by members of Pembrokeshire County Council's planning and rights of way committee, who discussed the proposals at their meeting on Tuesday.

The application site, which is located to the north of Pembroke town centre, adjacent to Bush Hill and Pembroke Road, excludes the existing sports centre and some minor ancillary school buildings.

The development put forward by the authority, will include the re-modelling of the existing science block buildings at the site; modified access; circulation and parking; landscaping; retention and new provision of recreation areas, including a new full-size floodlit 3G pitch.

The new Pembroke Learning Campus will provide secondary education together with a county Autism Centre, a Vocational Centre providing a range of learning and training opportunities, and adult and community learning facilities.

A report that went before the planning committee stated: "Subject to the recommended planning conditions, a good quality new learning campus will be delivered, one that will be compatible with the capacity and character of the site and area and would not adversely affect landscape in accordance with policies."

The first phase of the £42.4 million scheme, which is funded by the Welsh Government's 21st century schools programme, will start in the summer, with the new school and vocational centre set to be finished by September 2017, whilst phase two, which will comprise the demolition of the old school and development of the sports pitches, is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2018.