A VICTORIAN station which could be demolished and rebuilt brick by brick in the Forest of Dean should be kept in the borough, a Torfaen resident said.

Griffithstown Station opened in 1879 and continued to operate until the Sixties.

The town has had a long association with the railways and was the birthplace of the Aslef train driver union in 1880.

The station's goods shed housed Griffithstown Railway Museum from 2002 but it shut in 2011 due to financial pressures.

This autumn, Dean Forest Railway Society unveiled proposals to demolish the council-owned building, transport it and reopen it as a station across the border in Gloucestershire.

But Torfaen resident Lindsey Matthews believes the piece of railway history should be kept for local people.

Ms Matthews is exploring the possibility of turning it into a cafe, which could be used by passing cyclists.

She said: “I have approached the council quite recently as I would happily to buy it to keep it where it is for restoration and then use by the community as a cycle friendly cafe and tea garden.

“I feel there has been a lack of planning to provide recreational facilities for the expanding population and with the increase in interest in cycling this is a missed opportunity by Torfaen council.

“A lot of people feel the same, the importance of having the building for Pontypool.

“It should be kept for Pontypool. It should be retained for community use.”

Torfaen council said that its Cabinet expressed a desire to see the station used elsewhere for railway purposes back in 2012 and stressed there were no other plans for the site.

A spokeswoman said: “The council owns both land and building.

“We have had a number of approaches for various uses.

“A prior notification of proposed demolition application has been submitted to the planning section by Dean Forest Railway. “This application is to ensure that the method of demolition and the subsequent restoration of the land is appropriate only. “There are no other current planning applications on the site of the station.

“Cabinet expressed the desire to see the building utilised elsewhere for railway purposes at its meeting on September 11, 2012, if a suitable end user organisation could be identified.

“We have a current planning permission to demolish this building. “The site is allocated in the Local Development Plan for residential development, but no application to redevelop the site as yet.

“There are no other alternatives currently before the council for consideration.”