CAMPAIGNERS fighting to prevent 40 new houses being built in their Torfaen village are gearing up for their next battle.

Llantarnam residents have already defeated a plan to build the homes on a site which includes part of Llantarnam Comprehensive's playing-field, the disused John Fielding hostel, and the former Montressor Nursery.

But now Torfaen council is preparing a fresh application, and workmen have already carried out exploratory work on the field, which is owned by the council.

Residents want the school field preserved, and the council-owned hostel site used as a village centre, with amenities and a park area.

Campaigner Terrie Smith said: "They are turning the village into a mass of bricks and concrete, but we still lack basic amenities, which plenty of other wards in Torfaen have."

During a meeting of the planning committee last September members of the John Fielding Development Campaign group spoke against Torfaen council's own outline planning application for a 35- 40-house development.

They won the support of councillors and the plan was rejected.

But after looking into the campaigners' call for a village centre with amenities such as shops, a health centre and more parking for the local church hall.

Torfaen's cabinet committee has now decided the original plan was the best option for the site.

Chairman Alan Smith said the group accepted the need for some housing, but wanted to see a "modest" development on just the Montressor Nursery site.

"It's as if the original application and refusal never happened," he said.

Torfaen MP Paul Murphy, who lives in Llantarnam, said: "My concerns about the proposed development still stand, as the new plans do not seem to differ greatly from the original application."

The group fear the sale of a section of school field, sanctioned by the governors, could start a dangerous precedent.

A meeting to discuss the new plan will take place on September 15, in Llantarnam Church Hall, at 7pm.