Plans for a holiday village and leisure complex costing up to �100m have been approved by councillors in Neath Port Talbot on Tuesday.

The 500-acre project in the Afan Valley will bring up to 800 construction jobs and 400 permanent jobs, as well as improving transport links and creating more than 100 houses.

The scheme will include a dry ski slope

The scheme - similar to a Center Parcs resort - is separate from the �45m Bluestone tourism project planned for Pembrokeshire.

The attraction would include a 100-bedroom hotel, golf course, ski slope and a central glass dome with an artificial sub-tropical climate.

Detailed design work will be stepped up, with construction work due to start in 2003.

High-class homes

The phased development of the site will mean the first guests could arrive by 2005, although construction would still be ongoing.

Alongside the holiday village, 140 "high-class" houses will be built and roads near the site will be improved.

It will form a major basis for the regeneration of the valley and the area Cliff Patten, Neath Port Talbot council

The scheme was welcomed by Counci leader Noel Crowley as bringing new hope to an area which at present had no jobs to offer young people.

Steve Cleaton, project manager for Amec concept designers, on behalf of F and P developments, said the project would be a boost to an area badly in need of support and development.

As well as providing a wave of jobs, the complex will also offer a range of services to local residents.

"Many of the facilities, including ski slopes, tobogganing and golf will be available to the public," said Mr Cleaton.

Mr Cleaton added that people living nearby supported the village.

"We have had a series of public meetings and people were giving very positive reactions," he said.

Jobs spin-off

Neath Port Talbot councillors hope the site, which is between Cymer and Caerau, will be the catalyst for investment in the area.

There has been little work undertaken in the region since the mines shut.

"It is a major investment into the Afan Valley and could provide a great number of much-needed jobs," said Cliff Patten, the council's principal planning officer.

"It will form a major basis for the regeneration of the valley and the area."

Mr Patten said the scheme was more advanced than the Bluestone project in Pembrokeshire.

In November, a grant package worth more than �16m was pledged to the Bluestone project by the Welsh Assembly and four other public agencies.

Plans for the scheme are yet to be submitted to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and the county council.