A PARKING ban outside a cafe in a Newport park has seen a local Alzheimer’s group forced elsewhere because its members could not attend.

Newport City Council says it had to stop cars parking next to the pavilion in Bellevue Park because of fears for pedestrian safety following a number of near misses, one involving a child.

But many local vulnerable people have since stopped attending the pavilion and cafe because they say they are unable to get to it any longer.

Baneswell resident Rhiannon Thomas said: “It’s preventing vulnerable people from going to the cafe.

“It’s meant to be for the local people in the area.

“People with disabled children and old people can’t attend there.

“There is a 100-year-old man who has always attended too but now he struggles to walk the distance.”

A group of the Alzheimers Society used to meet on the site but moved elsewhere during the summer because of difficulties members encountered, a spokeswoman said: “Alzheimer’s Society held its last Dementia Café for people with dementia and carers at Belle Vue Park, on July 29.

“Following the changes to parking at the site, we consulted with our service users and sourced a more accessible venue.

“The café has been held at the Lysaght Institute since August 5.”

There is a nearby car park which is used for drivers coming to the cafe, and a wheelchair is located in the pavilion for visitors, a spokesperson for the local authority said.

“We recognise there are special requirements that need to be addressed especially when groups such as the Alzheimer’s Society wish to use the pavilion,” they added.

“As a result, provision was made to allow carers to drop off their passengers at the front door of the pavilion prior to parking their vehicles safely in the nearby car park.

“These arrangements were unfortunately not acceptable to the group and they made the decision to find a venue where their specific parking requirements could be met.”