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Parking clampdown at Covid lockdown visitor hotspot

Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB Cars parked at the side of the road near Moel FamauClwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB
The roads around Moel Famau, which attracts 300,00 visitors a year, were gridlocked during the summer of 2020

There are plans for a parking clampdown at a beauty spot people visited illegally during the Covid lockdowns.

Police said people "blatantly" ignored restrictions in order to visit Moel Famau, on the Denbighshire-Flintshire border, in January.

The site attracts about 300,000 visitors each year and roads were gridlocked during the summer of 2020.

Officials said access for emergency vehicles and residents was "very limited" during peak times.

If the plans are approved, Moel Famau would follow Snowdonia in seeing changes to its parking infrastructure since the start of the Covid pandemic.

The Pen-y-Pass car park, near Snowdon, introduced a booking system in the summer of 2020 after a string of traffic issues and parking violations.

Getty Images Moel FamauGetty Images
The Jubilee Monument on the summit of Moel Famau, in the Clwydian Range, was built for George III's golden jubilee in 1810
Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB Traffic chaos at Moel FamauClwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB
Traffic can be "very bad and very difficult to manage", the AONB Authority says

Ceri Lloyd, from the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), said it was "really important" to consider changes at Moel Famau.

"On busy days it can be very, very busy - and very bad and very difficult to manage," she said.

"[Because of] cars parked all over the road, access is very limited and it's difficult for local people in particular who may not be able to get into their homes, their driveways… which is something that's quite unacceptable to us as an authority."

The double yellow lines would be painted along Bwlch Pen Barras - where car parks for Moel Famau are located - down to the village of Tafarn y Gelyn.

Other measures taken by Denbighshire Council and the AONB include adding 50 new parking spaces with ticket machines.

Ceri Lloyd from Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Ceri Lloyd said the parking at Moel Famau was "unacceptable"

"What we found was lots of people were using the road [to park] when they didn't need to, so maybe they didn't have money for the parking machines," Ms Lloyd said.

"This then set a trend for the people behind them.

"So we have now installed new ticket machines which are contactless, which should help the situation, and the additional spaces we have already provided are currently coping with the number of visitors."

A contactless machine in the Moel Famau car park
Contactless parking meters have already been installed at Moel Famau

The county council has been consulting with the public on the proposals, and it follows prior consultation with North Wales Police and councillors that highlighted support for restrictions on waiting.

The council said: "The consultation has now closed and we will be reviewing the responses from the public with local elected members and North Wales Police before taking any further steps."