South Wales Police and the Vale of Glamorgan Community Safety team will continue their efforts to prevent outsiders from breaking COVID-19 restrictions and visiting Penarth Marina.

They say they will station officers at the Tesco roundabout for "the coming weeks" and that 'COVID-19 enforcement' signage will remain in place.

"The Council understands residents' concerns and is working alongside the Police to address this issue," a Council spokesperson told Nub News.

"Council and Police officers spent time at the entrance to Penarth marina last weekend, stopping cars to check travel was essential.

"Many of those questioned were visiting the nearby supermarket, while a large number of others had travelled on foot. Each of these activities is perfectly acceptable within current restrictions and there was high compliance with social distancing rules."

In spite of the police presence last weekend, the Marina area bustled with visitors at peak times. When Nub News visited at roughly 3:30pm on Saturday 6 February, it was difficult to maintain social distancing. A group of six teenagers had congregated among the visitors.

Residents are calling for further measures to be taken to safeguard the Marina population. Jayne Cuba, a retired school teacher and Marina homeowner, demands that a formal risk assessment to be carried out.

"The problem is the amount of footfall. What we want to avoid is a repeat of last year, when other tourist destinations were closed so everyone flocked here. People were spat on, residents couldn't leave their home - it was awful," she told Nub News.

"We bought these houses fully aware of what we bought, but COVID is a totally different kettle of fish. There has been no risk assessment. It needs to happen.

"The police need the support of the council. We don't even have proper signage and even this weekend when the police were there Marconi Avenue was chock-a-block.

"I love watching people go back and forth. It's great. We live with it. But now, with COVID, it's really scary and dangerous."

Addressing accusations that they have not done enough to protect Marina residents, the Vale of Glamorgan Council said:

"A multi-agency meeting between the Council and Police took place on Monday to review the weekend operation. These will continue on a twice-weekly basis and be used to inform future plans to manage Covid–19 breaches.

"Alongside this enforcement, a robust social media campaign has been launched by partner agencies, including Cardiff Council and the Police, to ensure messages about non-essential travel receive widespread coverage."