GIVE OUR BEACH BACK!
RESIDENTS of an Anglesey village say they’ve been unable to use their own local beach during recent months.
Llanddwyn beach near Newborough village attracts many visitors each year.
Natural Resources Wales (NRW), which manages the Anglesey beach, allows access between 8am and 5pm, with up to 400 cars parking there per day.
But residents say this isn’t enough to deal with the number of tourists. Over recent weeks, due to a limit in parking capacity on site and an increase in visitors, driveways and the road leading to the beach have been blocked by parked cars.
They say the restrictions have also meant residents are unable to visit the site during quieter times such as in the early morning or late in the evening.
According to Cathy Sands, the issue has been ongoing for almost six years, but has worsened since lockdown has relaxed.
Despite holding a meeting with NRW and Anglesey council 18 months ago to address the issue, Cathy says nothing has been done about it and locals are becoming frustrated with the situation.
The Newborough community wants to see the beach restrictions lifted.
“This has been an ongoing problem for about six years now,” Cathy said. “And each summer, we as locals seem to have less rights to our area.
“We don’t want to stop visitors coming here, but rather have the means to be able to appreciate our surrounding areas like them.
“It’s frustrating heartbreaking.
“It’s our home, we’ve lived here all of our lives and yet we don’t have access to some parts of it.
“I don’t venture out of the area that much because of Covid, but I can’t even access the places that I can go to.”
Cathy said she has also found the place littered with rubbish, faeces and people unlawfully camping over recent weeks.
Bro Aberffraw councillor Peter Rogers said there was and totally
“too much talking and not enough action” over the issue.
He added: “I go through most days talking to the locals about the matter and I sympathise with their situation.
“I fully understand that if we are to reopen local access that this would need to be done gradually and efficiently, especially regarding our current circumstances.
“We’ve had meetings about it, but we don’t seem to pull through. We need to support the local community and I owe it to them to sort this out.”
Dylan Williams, NRW’s land and assets manager, said the body was doing the best it could in a difficult situation.
“We are living in unprecedented times,” he said.
“We fully understand this is a difficult situation for the local community and I apologise for that.
“We are working on restrictions that can keep social distancing in place, keep people safe and to manage the potential traffic in the area.
“From this week on, we are now providing local residents with fobs so they can access the beach, and have reopened two car parks close to the area.
“Toilets are open on the site, and we are hoping to bring more portable toilets.
“These are problems not only in Newborough but throughout the rest of North Wales, and we are trying to deal with them as best as we can.”