LOCAL people living around Lake Vyrnwy have hit out over a charge that will mean it costs more to hold large-scale events at the beauty spot.

Activities involving more than 30 participants or 20 cars will have to pay a surcharge of 15 percent of their entry fee to the landowner to use the road that crosses the dam at the top of the lake.

The toll has been put in place by water company Hafren Dyfrydwy, mirroring the events policy of parent company Severn Trent Water, and the policy has also been implemented at Llyn Clywedog near Llanidloes.

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Bryn Davies, Plaid Cymru Powys County Councillor for Llanwddyn, said: “This is the wrong policy in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Hafren Dyfrydwy have simply copied and pasted the events policy used by their parent company, Severn Trent Water.

“None of their sites in England has a living community at its heart, as we have here in Llanwddyn, so we need a policy which is tailor-made to our local conditions.

“Hafren Dyfrydwy say that lake Vyrnwy is a ‘very unique’ site, so we would expect a unique approach to events in the area.

County Times: The toll would apply to the road crossing the Lake Vyrnwy dam.The toll would apply to the road crossing the Lake Vyrnwy dam.

“I am calling on Hafren Dyfrydwy to waive this charge for all activities organised by or for the residents of Llanwddyn and to postpone its introduction to 2023 at least for all other events.”

Elwyn Vaughan, Plaid Cymru Leader on Powys County Council, said: “When we’re struggling to bring people back to larger events in Powys this is definitely not the right time to slap a 15 percent premium on participants who are already suffering from the cost-of-living crisis.

"Pre-pandemic, thousands of people every year came to the area to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for charities, generating much-needed income in the shops, cafés and accommodation venues over a wide area, and this will do nothing to resurrect those events.”

David Thomas, chair of the Lake Vyrnwy Races 2003-2019, added: “This is going to hit events organisers and participants hard. It’ll add about £3 to a walk or cycle ride, £4 to a running race and at least £6 for every car in an organised rally.”

Last year it was confirmed that Hafren Dyfrdwy was to introduce a charge for the car parks around the lake.

A Hafren Dyrfdwy spokesperson said: “Our new events policy ensures that we can work alongside event organisers to make things run as smoothly and as safely as possible on the day of the event and allow our teams on the ground to adapt to running the site in a different way.

“This policy will ensure we can maintain the upkeep of our facilities at visitor sites such as Lake Vyrnwy and Llyn Clywedog, whilst also supporting what’s needed to make these wonderful events happen, with minimum disruption caused.

“If anyone is interested in running events on site we encourage them to get in touch with us well in advance and we can work with them on a case by case basis.”