PROPOSALS to change the boundary between New-port and Torfaen have been rejected.

The owner of a strip of wasteland between Llantarnam, Malpas and Caerleon had requested the area be transferred to Newport council after Torfaen council refused permission to build homes there.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales provisionally backed the proposals last August but has decided the boundary should remain.

Farmer Edward Morgan, of Brooklands Farm, Llantarnam, told the commission his land was cut off from the rest of his property by part of the Malpas bypass and that it should be switched to Newport to make "a more natural planning unit".

Mr Morgan said he had nothing to say about the outcome. Other local landowners said they did not want to see the land remain derelict and that the existing boundary was detrimental to future use of the fields.

But both Newport and Torfaen councils told the commission they wanted to keep the land as a green belt.

And 19 residents all objected to the proposals, saying a change of boundary would only lead to development which would destroy the natural beauty of the land.

Secretary of state for Wales Paul Murphy, AMs William Graham and Rosemary Butler, and the Welsh Conser-vative Party all opposed the proposals. The commission deci-ded it was in the interests of effective and convenient local government to keep the boundary. Any further representations on the report should be addressed to the Assembly within six weeks.

A copy of the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales' report can be found on their website at www.lgbc-wales.gov.uk

Copies are available at Caradog House, 1-6 St Andrews Place, Cardiff, CF10 3BE.