Police Commissioner's "reliance" concern on lockdown

There is too heavy a reliance on police to enforce this Friday's lockdown travel rules, according to the Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Commissioner.

The area around Newtown sees many motorists coming into it from across the border with Shropshire. With so many roads crossing the border, many of which are B-roads, it is difficult for police to monitor and enforce those travelling in and out.

In the last lockdown police had road checks at the roundabouts in and around Newtown off the A483.

Others were formed near Welshpool where the main A483 and A458 comes into the area from the West Midlands and North West of England.

Dafydd Llywelyn, Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed Powys, has urged the public to adhere to the new “fire-break” restrictions in Wales, and reminded holiday-makers and second home owners to remain at home.

“The only concern we have is if there is a too heavy reliance on police to enforce it,” he said.

The Plaid Cymru commissioner said demands on policing were high, although what he described as a night-time economy “bounce back” would be short-circuited by the stay at home rules from 23 October to 9 November.

Mr Llywelyn said Wales’s eight commissioners and chief constables had been briefed by the Welsh Government last week on the “direction of travel” but hadn’t been given any details at that point.

Referring to the new restrictions, he said: “From a personal point of view, it’s much much of what we got used to previously (the first lockdown).”

He added: “I live in south Ceredigion, and this is the first time since the virus has been in circulation that I’ve known people in the community who have got it.

“I know that’s perhaps to do with testing, but the virus certainly feels somewhat closer than it has done previously.”

Asked whether the months of lockdown and restrictions had had an impact on the supply of drugs into the force area, Mr Llywelyn said he thought not.

He said Dyfed Powys, which covers Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Powys, didn’t currently have an “active, embedded County Lines gang”, but he added: “Having said that, the market is still there.”