A TOWN on the Welsh border has welcomed council plans for temporary pedestrianisation.

From Tuesday (July 28) several roads in Hay-on-Wye have been closed for five hours each day as part of a public health measure from Powys County Council. It should enable visitors to stick to the Welsh Government's two-metre social distancing rule.

Castle Street, Castle Lane, High Town, parts of Lion Street, and St John's Place will all be closed from 11am to 5pm as part of the measures for the picturesque border town.

The county council has also given visitors two hours free parking in the Oxford Road car park and designated an area at the top of Oxford Road as a "pop in and collect point".

The town's chamber of commerce has worked with the county and town councils on the plans, which the majority of businesses are said to now agree with after initial concerns were addressed.

Chamber chairman Josh Boyd-Green, who runs Green Ink Booksellers in High Town, said the new measures had gone well on the first day, but local shoppers and businesses will be surveyed to get feedback on the measures.

"We've ended up with a middle-ground approach where roads are closed, but not all day which was a possibility," said Mr Boyd-Green, 38, who opened the bookshop in 2018.

"They're still closed during the busiest part of the day, 11am until 4pm. Day one went really well but we will just have to see.

"I can't say if there's less locals and more tourists on day one, but my feeling is for a Tuesday in summer there's been plenty of people. We had a good day in our shop and it was nice to see people walking in the middle of the street in the middle of the day.

"There will be some teething issues, but the idea is that we've got a survey going out to businesses every week, we'll take that on board, feedback to Powys [County Council] and tweak things."