TWO major Torfaen planning applications will be decided on at an extraordinary council meeting next month.

The application for a complete redevelopment of Cwmbran’s Arvin Meritor site, which will include a supermarket, offices and a hotel, will be discussed as well as a controversial application for 1,200 newhomes in south Sebastopol.

The Argus exclusively revealed last month how more than 800 jobs could be created through the redevelopment of Cwmbran’s Arvin Meritor site.

Supermarket giant Morrisons and Meritor, which runs its brake business at the site east of the town centre, announced plans for a new 37,000 sq ft Morrisons supermarket with a petrol station and 500-space car park.

The plans, submitted to Torfaen council by Meritor earlier this year, also include offices, a hotel and a comprehensive refurbishment of the existing Meritor Heavy Braking Systems factory.

A new‘civic square’ would be created and, as well as a range of highway improvements to support the project.

There would also be new pedestrian links to the railway station and the town centre, including a link bridge over St David’s Road to the existing leisure complex.

Also being discussed at the meeting next month is the controversial plan to build 1,200 houses on farmland and woodland in south Sebastopol.

In February this year Barratt Homes updated plans originally submitted to Torfaen council in 2001 to build the homes.

The proposals also include open space, a village core, sports provision and sustainable transport improvements.

But the plans have provoked some strong opposition – including a Friends of the Earth Youtube campaign as well as opposition from Pontypool community council. The meeting will be held at County Hall, Cwmbran, on July 5 at 4pm.

Anyone who wishes to speak at the meeting is asked to contact Rosalyn Gwynn on 01495 766057 by 10am on June 30.