TOURISTS visiting a battlefield where Owain Glyndær led troops to victory may be faced with a "Tellytubbyland" of wind turbines, an AM warned yesterday. The 600-year-old ancient battleground was at risk from Assembly government proposals to increase the energy production from wind power said Lisa Francis. The Conservative AM in mid and west Wales criticised new planning guidance to local councils on wind farms as "a recipe for the destruction of rural Wales". The technical advice note (Tan 8) issued by Assembly environment minister Carwyn Jones would tie the hands of local planning authorities. They would be left with "little option other than to agree proposals for new wind farm develop-ments", she said. "No proper research has been conducted into how Welsh Labour's windfarm plans will affect the local tourism economy in areas such as Ceredigion. "Turning large tracts of the most beautiful parts of mid and west Wales into a replica of Tellytubby land is hardly going to act as a beacon to draw tourists to the area." She said one casualty of "Welsh Labour's completely 'la-la' plans" could be the site of the historic 1401 battle of Hyddgen in Pumlumon, where Glyndær led the Welsh to victory. "Six hundred years on, we have another battle on our hands," Ms Francis said. The AM lobbied culture minister Alun Pugh to publish a map of ancient Welsh battlefield sites, never properly recognised. "I felt this would be of huge benefit to our cultural and walking tourism economy. "I'm absolutely delighted that he agreed to do this, however, I can't see visitors to Hyddgen being impressed by the site of more than 90 of Europe's tallest generators, as well as a conglomeration of substations, overhead power-lines and new roads blasted through a landscape which has lain undisturbed for centuries. "It is abundantly clear this Welsh Labour government lacks the political will and imagination to concentrate on projects which generate clean energy and which are tourism friendly. "It is not in the long term interest of Wales to place all our bets on a single technology such as wind, particularly one that imposes such a big cost on our landscape". An Assembly government spokesperson said: "The Tan is a strategic document defining strategic search areas (SSA) at an all-Wales level. "Not all of the area within an SSA will be developed. Relevant planning issues, including the location of historic sites, should be taken into account by planning authorities before any decisions are made." | 
