The NATO summit in Newport will be the biggest security event the UK police has ever seen, residents of Caerleon were told by a senior police officer Wednesday night at a public Q&A on the September summit.

Around 60 people attended the meeting, which heard how every police force in the UK will be involved in the massive security operation to protect heads of state and members of the public between September 4 and 5.

Around 9,000 officers will be deployed to South Wales to man the operation and allow Gwent Police to continue responding to incidents and emergencies.

The meeting was arranged to update people on how they are likely to be affected. Others are due to follow elsewhere around the city and its surrounding areas.

In a presentation given to residents at Caerleon Town Hall, Gwent Insp Mike Richards, of the NATO summit police planning team, told the audience that just two roads were expected to be closed around Celtic Manor and Caerleon during the summit, namely Bulmore Road and Catsash Road.

He added that others could be put in place during the summit as part of the police operation.

He added: “You can be reassured we will do a good job in September.”

Newport Cllr Gail Giles indicated the one way system in Caerleon meant that one incident could grind traffic to a halt but hoped the summit would have a positive impact on the town.

The Caerleon ward councillor said: “One incident could stop the whole of it but we would hope it would raise the profile of Caerleon.”

World leaders including President Obama, Chancellor Merkel and David Cameron will converge on the Celtic Manor resort for the summit.

Police urged residents and businesses to avoid the motorway in particular when world leaders are ferried between Celtic Manor and hotels in Cardiff and Bristol.

But Insp Richards said they had conducted a “dry run” on the M4 on a Monday during the evening rush without experiencing excessive disruption.

He also stressed that police would still be able to respond to day to day incidents and emergencies and urged people to call 999 and 101 accordingly.

Forinformation on the summit check the Argus website or gov.uk/nato-wales-local