More than 1,000 people have already signed a local petition calling for the work to be stopped and for the travellers who own the land in Nantyglo to be removed. 

The group has been ordered to stop removing tonnes of earth from the site.

Blaenau Gwent Council served a “stop notice” to the landowners, following locals raising concerns the excavation could cause a landslip in the village.

Residents say the 'damage is done' and fear another Aberfan (Image: Newsquest)

According to local resident and creator of the petition Yvonne Bell, the residents are alarmed there could be a repeat of the Aberfan disaster if the digging is allowed to go ahead. 

She said: "We already knew the land is unstable and not suitable for building on - we'd asked the council about it for our own uses years ago when we first moved here. 

"We got told it wasn't stable enough and now with this happening we fear we could be seeing Aberfan repeated.

"It's so awful but we can't help thinking about it."

What was Aberfan?

A colliery spoil tip collapsed in 1966, killing 144 people in the resulting landslip.

This included 116 children who were at school when a mountain of coal waste fell onto the village near Merthyr Tydfil. 

Mrs Bell explained she had previously mentioned their concerns to the travellers.

The council's stop message came into effect on Friday, April 5 and will remain in place for 28 days. 

The caravans and diggers have been destroying what used to be a beautiful view over the hills say residents (Image: Newsquest)While Mrs Bell and her fellow residents are happy the council have acted, there has been some widespread frustration that it hadn't happened earlier as she she had warned the authority about it early last week. 

Villagers say the "damage has been done" to the area that was previously grazing land and is now a "black scar" on the landscape. 

This has led to residents of the nearby bungalows fearing sinking homes and extra floods on top of a risk of their house prices plummeting. 

Blaenau Gwent Council confirmed they had put a stop order in place as they considered the "unauthorized excavation" to be a "breach of planning control" and that the works had not been conducted in "accordance with sound engineering practices". 

A spokesperson added: “We have also commissioned independent geotechnical and geoenvironmental specialists to provide an opinion on the likely stability of the land following the works carried out.

"This concluded that there is no immediate risk to nearby properties or the road above as a result of the work but recommends measures are put in place to ensure longer term stability of the land.

“We will issue further updates only as necessary.”