Travel chaos at popular North Wales beach as nans to lead road blockade this weekend A group of residents will perform a slow walk to the beach in protest over the village's traffic problems The vast Traeth Llanddwyn beach offers plenty of space - but there's only a single access road and on sunny days the car park fills quickly (Image: Anthony Parkes/Wiki ) Two grandmothers and a community stalwart are to lead a “moving blockage” along the road to one of North Wales’ most popular beaches over the bank holiday weekend. Traffic disruption is expected as a result of the protest at Newborough, Anglesey. Villages are leading the blockade in protest over the gridlocks that regularly plague the area as hundreds of tourists descend upon Traeth Llanddwyn and neighbouring Newborough Forest. ‌ The beach has grown in popularity in recent years and regularly features in top 10 lists and its iconic tidal island has an irresistibly romantic allure, North Wales Live reports. ‌ Long tailbacks are already anticipated this Bank Holiday weekend, but disgruntled residents are determined to send a message - even if it means adding to local congestion for a day. On Sunday, May 4, beach visitors can expect extra hour-long delays on top of the lengthy waits they experience already. Protestors will be blocking the narrow lane from Newborough to the beach car park (Image: Google ) “For years there have been lots of meetings and lots of talk but not enough action,” said grandmother-of-seven Annwen Williams, 58. “Well, we are now the action! We’re fed up and we need things to change. And we won’t be backing down – this weekend’s protest won’t be the last. We’ll keep doing them until something is finally done to sort out the village’s traffic problems.” Article continues below On Sunday at 9am, a large group of residents and their children will set off on “slow walk” from the village centre. Accompanied by one or more tractors, for safety, they aim to take a leisurely one-hour stroll along Church Street – the only access road to the main beach car park in Newborough Forest. After a picnic on Traeth Llanddwyn, the group will make an hour-long return trip, again blocking traffic to and from the beach. A small police escort is promised and Natural Resources Wales (NRW), which oversees Newborough Forest National Nature Reserve, has pledged additional traffic management. Traeth Llanddwyn’s popular beach car park can accommodate 300 vehicles paying £7 for a day’s stay. “We organised it at 9am as the car park is often full by 10am,” said Annwen. ‌ The photogenic tidal island of Ynys Llanddwyn at sunset (Image: Richard Banton/Wiki ) On sunny days, beach-bound traffic often queues 1.8 miles along the narrow, twisty access road from Newborough village centre. From here, it’s not uncommon for tailbacks to continue for another half-mile along the A4080 to Pen-lôn, snarling up the village. Unable to escape the chaos, beleaguered residents complain they become trapped. To avoid the queues, which often leaves visitors stewing in their vehicles, desperate motorists park on residential streets, at times blocking driveways. Others park up on double yellow lines that were added to the A4080 in 2021 to prevent local congestion. ‌ Plans for Sunday’s protest were discussed at a village meeting on Thursday, May 1. Also present were NRW, Anglesey Council and police representatives. “They tried to tell us we wouldn’t be safe walking on the road,” said Annwen. “But it’s dangerous already! “I walk up that road two or three times a week - the forest and beach is my refuge. Often I have to jump onto the narrow verge and press up against farm fencing to avoid the cars. There’s always a lot of beep beeping: there’s so much road rage as angry visitors get stuck in the queues. “During Sunday’s slow walk, anyone trying to get to the forest and beach will not get past us. At the meeting, NRW told us that, for safety reasons, they will try to slow visitor traffic at Pen-lôn, or even stop it altogether.” ‌ Newborough’s congestion problems date back 20 years. Visitor numbers surged during the Covid pandemic, resulting in the introduction of village centre traffic management measures at weekends and the summer holidays. But residents complain the trend has continued, fuelled by social media – so much so that a prominent Anglesey page on Facebook has now banned photos of Treath Llanddwyn and its island. NRW “hackathon” workshops were held in Newborough last year to discuss possible solutions such as pre-booked parking and park-and-ride. More radical ideas included boat taxis and even a cable car system. After a miserable Easter, in which last year’s “worst ever” gridlocks were exceeded, three lifelong village residents decided enough was enough. Annwen, John Evans, 59, and Heather Savage, 62, met to gauge support and the idea for a “slow walk” was formed. ‌ “We can’t call it a march because for this you have to give 28 days notice to the police,” said Annwen. “We know that everyone in the village feels the same way we do. “All we want is the chance to cross the road safety – especially those with children – and the freedom to leave our homes if we need to. “We’re certainly not anti-tourist. A lot of visitors suffer in the congestion too, and they deserve better. We don’t want to stop them coming, we just want an end to the gridlocks.” Article continues below For more of today's top stories, click here.