IN WHAT has been described as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity", Torfaen council is set to submit a £3.7 million proposal to buy South East Wales' largest derelict industrial site, The British.

The Welsh Government has confirmed it will provide a £1.7 million re-greening package as part of the purchase - which could spell the end of generations of opencast mining uncertainty for the 1,300 acre site.

Subject to approval next Tuesday, the scheme includes a £300,000 land purchase from owners HSBC, with Gwent Wildlife Trust in discussions to manage the majority of the former ironworks.

Councillors will be asked to approve a contribution of up to £2 million from the council’s capital funding budget to match fund the Welsh Government grant.

The chief officer for planning at the council, Duncan Smith, said: “This proposal to councillors is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy the site and end a 30-year cycle of speculative schemes which have only hindered the regeneration of the site and wider area.

"Council officers have put together a business plan which will restore the site and address the mine workings and tips created by iron production which ended in the 1880s and has been in decline ever since."

HSBC opted against putting the site up for auction earlier this year - at the request of Torfaen council - with officers in a race against time to come up with a regeneration pact that would unlock Welsh Government funding since then.

As part of the deal, which was discussed at a public meeting with The British liaison group in August, there is also provision for 150 new houses along the edge of the site.

Torfaen leader councillor Bob Wellington said: “We have been fighting for this for 30 years and if approved, I’m sure the excitement in the north will be tremendous. It gives us an opportunity to revitalise the north, build houses for the first time in many years and put things right.”

There are a number of grade II listed buildings on the site, which have been damaged in recent years, but there are no proposals to redevelop these under the council's buyout bid.

Torfaen AM Lynne Neagle said the scheme would spark relief among residents.

"The council have worked incredibly hard to pull off this deal as the site has been a problem for years and years," she added.

"I’m happy as there was a suggestion that there would have to be opencast but then we had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire the site.

“I have been lobbying the Welsh Government and ensuring that they’ve worked in partnership with the council. I’m really glad that they have put some money on the table so we can deal with The British."

Over the last 12 years there have been three separate plans for opencast mining on the site, which all failed before HSBC gained control when the Castlemore Group went into administration in 2009.