A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build 1,200 houses on green land be-tween Cwmbran and Pontypool was appr-oved by 23 votes to 17 at a special Torfaen council meeting last night.

The meeting lasted five-and-a-half hours. The plan was opposed by the public ever sice it was first conceived in the 1990s.

Protestors held a march before the meeting and packed the council chamber, with a further 60 watching proceedings via a video link.

Objections to the scheme, which will create new homes, facilities and even a primary school on 253 acres of land in South Sebastopol, centred around the damage to the environment and concerns about traffic in the area.

Upper Cwmbran councillor John Cunningham said: "Given that this plan was initiated in the 1990s, it would be appropriate to review the situation. "The circumstances in the borough have changed immensely in the last few years.

"Let's not make a decision based on outdated information and destroy the last green belt between Ponty-pool and Cwmbran."

St Alban's pupil David Malpass, 14, told the meeting: "Taking the fields away would encourage young people to hang around on the streets and be a nuisance."

Ruth Tucker, secretary of Torfaen County Association of Community Councils, said: "Our members have opposed this proposal ever since it was submitted.

"There is concern about the traffic impact on the area, there is concern that alternative brownfield sites have not been explored, there is concern about the loss of a valuable green wedge."

And Vic Warren, chairman of the local branch of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales, added: "If this land goes, how long before a developer makes an offer the council can't refuse for Greenmeadow Farm or the top of Pontypool Park?

Torfaen council's new leader Bob Wellington told the meeting: "If we vote against this application tonight we will lose a lot of money.

"I would urge you to vote for this. We have got to think about our kids and the future."