Amsterdam’ De Wallen red-light district will see many roads and locations closed off as the city introduces ‘cleaning breaks’.

The move is designed to improve the state of De Wallen, which suffers from severe overcrowding at night and quickly becomes littered with waste and vomit. Roads and crowded areas will be closed off to the public while cleaning teams are sent in to deal with the mess left by visitors.

The city attracts roughly 18 million tourists each year – which is more than the entire population of the Netherlands.

Amsterdam’s council, led by new mayor Femke Halsema, is hoping to ease the pressure on the city centre caused by extensive tourism, alongside new measures designed to monitor the number of holidaymakers and fine those causing anti-social behaviour.

The city was recently branded a “lawless jungle” by its ombudsman, Arre Zuurmond, who revealed in a damning report that crime is so endemic that drugs were being sold in open and that the authorities have little control.

The new system is expected to be implemented by the end of August 2018.