Parking plea issued to visitors to beauty spots

FOLLOWING post-lockdown congestion, a plea has been made to visitors heading through Denbighshire to Moel Famau to be considerate.

Denbighshire County Council is encouraging visitors to the landmark to consider visiting at off-peak times, to help avoid significant traffic congestion on roads leading up to the beauty spot.

Since the lockdown restrictions were lifted, the site - which sits on the border with Flintshire - has seen a significant number of visitors and official car parks have filled up extremely quickly.

Last weekend, a significant number of people visiting Moel Famau parked along Forestry Road, the country lane leading up from Tafarn y Gelyn, with issues reported with congestion and two way traffic coming to a stand-still along the narrow lane.

Issues were also reported on the lane leading from Llanferres and connecting with Forestry Road.

Councillor Tony Thomas, cabinet lead member for housing and communities, said: “We fully recognise that people want to visit Moel Famau after many weeks of lockdown and visitors are most welcome but the level of visitors at the weekend was unprecedented.

“There were issues with vehicles parking right along the country lane leading up to Moel Famau. This resulted in the road becoming narrower and vehicles were unable to pass each other at many pinch points on the road.

"The situation caused issues for local residents living in properties along the stretch of road and we are also concerned that emergency service vehicles would struggle to get through."

The visitor hotspot, which is the highest hill within the Clwydian Range, was recently reopened after being closed to the public on Tuesday, March 24.

The beauty spot was closed alongside the Loggerheads country park due to concerns for public health with consistently large numbers of people flocking to the site.

Cllr Thomas added: “We recognise there have been similar issues in many areas of North Wales. We will be discussing the issue with police and see what can be done to alleviate the problem.

“All we are asking people to do is consider visiting at times when it’s likely to be less busy, to avoid scenes like this from happening.

"If people find that car parks are full, they should consider continuing their journey to another location that is less busy and can cope with the demand for parking spaces. Having a Plan B will really help us”.