ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have collected almost 400 signatures against land between Pontypool and Cwmbran being used for housing in the future.

Torfaen Friends of the Earth’s campaign was triggered after Torfaen council threw out the latest development consortium's plans to build 1,200 houses in South Sebastopol earlier this year.

The council also removed the greenfield site from its local development plan (LDP) as a potential housing area.

But an Assembly planning inspector said the authority did not have enough evidence to do that, and recommended that the council withdraw its LDP.

On October 23, there will be an extraordinary council meeting to discuss the plan - and the site could be re-instated as one for housing development.

In response to this, the group held two public meetings - more than 100 people turned up during the session on Wednesday night.

They are also organising a presence outside The Civic Centre on Tuesday, and anyone wishing to hold a placard is invited to meet them outside from 3.45pm.

Co-ordinator, Carole Jacob, is urging people to sign a petition by logging onto www.change.org and searching for “abandon Torfaen LDP” by 10am on October 19.

The group’s online petition has collected 251 signatures, and over 100 people signed at the meetings.

Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday night, Ms Jacob, said: "While there is breath in my body I will fight against the plan."

Sebastopol resident Geoff Catley said: "You can never tell how things will go with this council, so I don’t know what will happen on Tuesday.

"I’m not against housing, but against where they are going."

Pontnewydd resident Linda Delahay, added: "It would be a travesty if this goes ahead. We want the council to stick to their guns.

"We hope they throw out the LDP to save our green space."

The extraordinary meeting will be held on Tuesday, at 4pm in the Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Pontypool.