Residents fighting on against housing plan

Gwent Healthcare Trust wants to sell the Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital site, a long-stay hospital for people with learning disabilities, to a developer.

But the Friends of Llanfrechfa Action Group (FLAG) are not giving up the fight to block the proposals.

Protest signs have been placed around the hospital in Llanfrechfa, Cwmbran, by the group. They are also rallying support through their own website, www.cymru.org, which invites the public to sign an online petition against the proposals. More than 300 letters of objection have also been sent to Torfaen council's planning department.

Gwent Healthcare Trust submitted an outline planning application to Torfaen county borough council last May.

A decision on whether the proposals are viable will be made by the autumn and the council's planning committee has promised to take residents' objections into account.

"We have a number of concerns about the possible development," said FLAG member Don Corbett.

"For example, congestion - there could be up to 1,000 new cars in the area and that would cause chaos along Caerleon Road, which is narrow enough as it is."

The pressure group also names disruption to drainage and the environment among its concerns.

"We have working groups of activists set up to tease out the facts in each of these areas from Torfaen council and the healthcare trust," said Mr Corbett, who has lived in the area for 37 years.

"We will be making a positive response to the council and ask for modifications to the plans in order to safeguard the environment as best we can."

The National Assembly has already approved a business plan to close the hospital by September 2006 and relocate the 30 patients currently residing there into smaller units in communities across Gwent.

Alan Davies, performance director at Gwent Healthcare Trust, said: "We are looking at the impact a development like this would have on the community.

"The residents' objections will be taken into account."