House of the Dragon: New beach parking measures over gridlock
Visitors to a beach featured in the hit TV show House of the Dragon will face new parking restrictions in a bid to halt gridlock.Ticket prices are set to rise, while the main car parks for those heading to Llanddwyn beach on Anglesey could be closed off from mid-morning.National Resources Wales (NRW), which manages the beach and forest nature reserve, say it is in response to ongoing problems in the nearby village of Newborough.Residents there have held public protests over the level of congestion as more and more people flock to the beach.
The main route to the beach car park means vehicles have to pass through the village on a narrow road to reach the beach.At peak times, such as summer and public holidays, it has led to long queues of traffic.For the road down to the beach - Church Street - it can leave residents there unable to get in or out from their own homes for hours on end.
"The people who live on Church Street, there are so many houses there, and they basically have to plan their day around the visitors that come to the area - which isn't right at all," said the county councillor for the area, John Ifan Jones.
From Friday a fresh attempt to address the issues is being tested.Parking at the main beach car parks will rise to £5 for two hours, and then a further 70p for every additional 20 minutes - up to a maximum of £15 a day.In addition, there will be a trial over the bank holiday weekend, closing access to the car parks on Saturday, Sunday and Monday as they become full.The car parks will shut to new vehicles entering until 16:30 BST each day.
"The trial will stop vehicles accessing the site once the car park becomes full," explained Richard Berry, the NRW land management team leader for the region."Even as cars leave the site and spaces become available no vehicular access will be allowed until after 4.30pm."We hope this approach will safeguard the site's precious wildlife, improve the visitor experience and reduce congestion in the village where motorists currently wait for a parking space on the site to become available."
NRW warned that could see the car parks closed from as early as 11:00 during the trial, and said prospective visitors should consider venturing to the beach at quieter times - or choose other beach locations on Anglesey - it has over 40 dotted around the island's coast."We hope this approach will safeguard the site's precious wildlife, improve the visitor experience and reduce congestion in the village where motorists currently wait for a parking space on the site to become available."
Parking issues
The area's county councillor said the trial would be carefully monitored by the community, to see what impact it had on traffic through the village over the summer."We have to try something, and this is the first step of many I hope," said Mr Jones.
An official for Anglesey council said it would be enforcing existing parking restrictions in the village itself and the surrounding areas over the holiday weekend."In addition, we'll ask the public for their support by parking responsibly and safely and asking them to take the needs of the local community into account," they added.
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