Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall influx prompts 'extra parking and policing'

Policing is being stepped up at a beauty spot due to an influx in visitors, according to an MP.

Villagers in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Powys, held a meeting on Friday to discuss concerns about "traffic chaos" caused by visitors to Pistyll Rhaeadr.

MP Craig Williams told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that police had agreed to increase patrols this weekend.

He said car parking capacity would also be increased to help cope with demand.

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"When you get hundreds or thousands of people turning up, you need to get the facilities right," said Mr Williams.

He said a total of 13 bags of rubbish collected at the beauty spot were taken into the meeting to highlight problems.

Villagers have raised concerns about social distancing being maintained due to the number of people visiting the area daily, said to be up from 1,000 to about 3,000, since lockdown rules eased.

"People in the shielding community were worried about the scale of the people coming," said the MP for Montgomeryshire.

"Dyfed-Powys Police have been fantastic, they are doubling their resources this weekend, so Pistyll Rhaeadr will look a lot differently from a policing perspective.

"People are waking up to what is on your doorstep. Montgomeryshire is one of the most beautiful places in the world… but equally we are not built for the scale of tourism we are currently seeing.

"In the medium, longer term that is a great challenge to have and a great opportunity.

"And we need to think how to plan and get the infrastructure in place if we continue this increase in tourism."