PLANS to build thousands of homes in Torfaen on green space in South Sebastopol and the former Pontypool College are a step closer.

An examination into Torfaen’s Local Development Plan 2006-2021 (LDP) has been carried out by inspector Barry Juniper, who has given it the go-ahead.

The LDP outlines that development on greenfield sites is necessary as the council plans for 4,700 new houses.

This allocation is 550 homes in north Torfaen, 1,875 in Pontypool and 2,275 in Cwmbran.

Executive member for planning and public protection Cllr Gwyneira Clark said the inspector’s report will be presented to a special council meeting on Tuesday, December 3, for formal adoption to be considered.

In Pontypool, a large-scale development is envisaged at the Mamhilad Strategic Action Area. The proposal is for a mixed-use urban village with its own local facilities, including a primary school, two miles from Pontypool town centre. It can accommodate 1,700 dwellings, with 690 in the plan period.

The plan to provide 200 houses at The British in Talywain has been removed due to the time it would take to extract the remaining coal and restore the derelict mine site, Torfaen Council has decided to change it to a reclamation proposal.

Other housing proposals in Pontypool include the former Trevethin School at Penygarn, Animal Pound and adjacent land at Wainfelin, and land at the former Pontypool College at Cwmynyscoy.

In Cwmbran, 220 homes are proposed on the brownfield site at the former County Hall. While there are also proposals to build on the former Gwent Police College which includes grassland.

In the report, the inspector writes: “Whilst I accept keeping the grassland of nature conservation interest in a single block would have considerable advantages... I am not convinced that this outweighs the importance of providing housing.”

The council has proposed to reduce the number of houses from 456 dwellings to 350 to ensure a balance between development and nature conservation.

A spokesman for Natural Resources Wales said: “The site plays an important role in an area with already limited conservation grassland. We will continue to work with Torfaen Council to ensure the effects on the environment are kept to a minimum.”

Local resident Claire Elliott said: “My concern is the loss of natural space and the harm it will cause to animals. It’s got undisturbed hedgerows, but the wildlife will have nowhere to flee when the building starts, so it will die off.”

The 101.6 hectare site of South Sebastopol is intended to accommodate 1,200 homes, with 690 built within the plan period, occupying the last green space between Cwmbran and Pontypool.

The inspector writes: “I am not convinced that the additional visual coalescence of the two towns would be unduly harmful.”

Torfaen Friends of the Earth co-ordinator Carole Jacob said: “Whoever travels the canal corridor, and that includes many visitors, will be severely impacted upon by the mass of houses on what was once beautiful green field.

“To say that there would be no coalescence between the existing communities of Sebastopol, Griffithstown and Cwmbran flies in the face of Welsh Planning guidance.”

As part of the LDP, a study has highlighted that between 20 to 42 additional permanent pitches for gipsies and travellers are needed.

Existing provision for gipsies and travellers is on the council-owned Shepherds Hill site in Cwmynyscoy.

But it suffers overcrowding and to mining subsidence issues.

The plan incorporates two sites which would jointly meet the predicted need, including expansion onto land owned by the gipsy and traveller Community at Upper Race.

The council also proposes a new site for up to 32 pitches on the former Race Athletic football pitch, to the north of the existing Shepherds Hill site in Cwmynyscoy.

All of the planned accommodation for gipsies and travellers is within the Cwmynyscoy ward, but the inspector said that this was not a reason for the proposal to be excluded.

He accepts that residents have referred to problems of crime and antisocial behaviour, but there is no evidence to suggest that occupiers of the Gipsy and Traveller sites were responsible.