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Letter to the Directors, Bute Energy
Letter to the Directors, Bute Energy
OPEN SPACES VERSUS INDUSTRY: Another look at the proposed industrialisation of the heartland of Wales
OPEN SPACES VERSUS INDUSTRY: Another look at the proposed industrialisation of the heartland of Wales
The blue lines on this map show the road network across England and Wales. This reveals the last remaining scraps of open land that offer freedom to be for wild life and persons in predominantly natural spaces, where the air is clean and free from the desperation of developers and industrialisers. Beyond them, Britain helplessly strangles itself.
Your plans—and those of the many other companies involved in ‘development’— threaten environmentally sensitive landscapes which provide a small, diminishing refuge for endangered wildlife and flora. Surely you are aware that there are very few undeveloped spaces left in heavily overcrowded Britain, spaces where the activities and anxieties of modern man do not dominate? These spaces need to be protected and preserved because their loss would result in a hellish, claustrophobic nightmare, ruled by complex infrastructure and a virtual, digital reality. Lives and jobs would be limited to maintaining this massive energy consuming network, dedicated to serving the production of more unhappy, frantic people to swell the numbers in already disgracefully overcrowded Britain.
Surely there has got to be some stage when the absurdity of this mad ‘development’ idea gets through to the essential suppressed wisdom that lies beneath the commercial preoccupation with gain and self-importance? Incidentally, ‘develop’ means to ‘open up,’ so it is not quite the right word for projects concerned with closing down natural habitats and filling them in with industrial wastelands.
Consider: if the giant wind factories with pylons and wide access roads were to materialise in the uplands and valleys of Wales, the land and landscape would be ruined forever. A brief look at the human record shows that clearing up after industrialisation gets postponed indefinitely—regardless of promises and obligations. The steel, concrete, discarded machinery and pollution would be a permanent blight.
Why continue to argue for a totally unrealistic fantasy about a clean, green technological future when wind is demonstrably unreliable? The fantasy is now under critical review. In the Spring, elections are due in Wales and a change of government is extremely likely and hoped for by most in Wales. In all probability, giant wind turbine developments will not be favoured. Would it not, therefore, be a sensible move to back off and find a more modest, less divisive way of making a living and providing employment?
BACK OFF, BUTE!
SALLY and JASMINE GEORGE
For Wild Wales Trust
Letter to Eluned Morgan, First Minister October 2025
Letter to Eluned Morgan, First Minister October 2025
Wind Turbines, the Heart of Wales and Socialism
Wind Turbines, the Heart of Wales and Socialism
In your recent exchange with James Evans in the Senedd on the subject of onshore wind turbines, you stated that Powys should make a ‘contribution’ to the Labour Government’s net zero policy that would in some way be positively comparable to the historical development of the coal mining industry in South Wales.
Apparently, you tend to be of the opinion that the landscape of Mid Wales should be industrialised because it hasn’t contributed adequately to the nation’s economy and still has plenty of uncontaminated, open uplands and valleys available for exploitation for the benefit of the people.
You may be overlooking the fact that Mid Wales also has a rich mining history. Throughout the region, there have been many productive mines, particularly for lead, copper, silver and even gold. These mines operated for many centuries, with yields peaking in the 19th and early 20th centuries and their leavings have a small tourist following.
Mid Wales has also given huge tranches of land for reservoirs, including Lake Vyrnwy (where my ancestors watched as the old village, church, graveyard and farms were flooded), Llyn Clywedog, the Elan Valley and Llyn Nantymoch. These reservoirs ensure a constant supply of Welsh water to many towns and cities in the UK.
Plantations cover many of the hills in Mid Wales. They purify and balance the planet’s atmosphere and produce timber for industries.
However much electricity is produced, we still need food. A great deal is produced by the hard work of the Mid Wales farmers. Their husbandry of unindustrialised land should not be undervalued.
So, Mid Wales cannot really be accused of slacking. In addition, its uplands provide a refuge for wildlife, rare peatlands and a much needed breathing space for humans on this busy, overcrowded island.
Your underrating of the area is particularly strange since you are one of the Senedd representatives for Mid and West Wales yet you are not often seen or heard from in the area.
Mid Wales already has a large number of wind turbines that unquestionably blight the hills. The latest proposals* are for turbines twice as high as the existing ones, which would necessitate a huge amount of infrastructure, including new roads and pylons through the valleys. The problem with such industrial-scale developments is that such would severely diminish, devastate and destroy the landscape, character and relative tranquility of Mid Wales. The energy supplied would always be intermittent and unreliable. Therefore, unlike commodities such as coal, metal, water, timber, and food, they would demand a huge area of land for a dubious return in terms of energy output. At the end of their working ‘life’ we would doubtless find that despite developers’ promises and down payments, there would be a great deal of reluctance to deindustrialise the ruined areas. Removal of the huge areas of concrete would of course be entirely ‘another matter!’
We are aware of the very large sums of money involved in these projects and also of inducements offered to farmers and perhaps to some government officials. There is also the important matter of constraint payments to the operators when the wind is down and the turbines are unproductive. These can amount to large sums of money. Where does that money come from?
It seems to us that the Labour Governments work primarily on the basis of socialist ideology and so, as we observe in the present case, are out of touch with the realities of the land and indeed the people of rural Mid Wales. Labour ideology is fundamentally urban and focuses on acquiring control of resources, which it can then of course meter out to the population at large. We strongly advise a broader, wiser, kinder, more sympathetic understanding of the balance relating to population increase and consequent heavier demand upon resources. We optimistically trust that it will eventually be forthcoming.
MINNIE WYLDE
For WILD WALES TRUST
*Below is a list of the current proposals for wind turbines in Wales, compiled by CPRW. No wonder Powys County Councillors voted unanimously to pause applications:
Aberedw Energy Park
Abertillery wind farm
Alwen Forest wind farm
Banc Du Energy Park
Banc y Celyn energy park
Brechfa North wind farm
Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park
Bryn Gilwern Energy Park
Bryn Rhudd Energy Park
Bryngydfa wind farm
Calon y Gwynt Energy Park
Carnedd Wen wind farm
Carreg Wen Wind Farm
Clocaenog Dau Wind Farm
Convatec Green Manufacturing Hub
Craig y Geifr wind farm
Dragon Energy Park
Esgair Cwmowen wind farm
Esgair Ddu Energy Park
Esgair Galed Energy Park
Foel Fach Wind Farm
Foel Trawsnant wind farm
Gaerwen wind farm
Garn Fach wind farm (approved)
Garreg Fawr Energy Park
Glyn Cothi Wind Farm
Hirfynydd Renewable Energy Park
Lan Fawr Energy Park
Llanbrynmair wind farm
Llanwonno Energy Project
Lluest Y Gwynt wind farm
Llyn Lort Energy Park
Manmoel wind farm
Melin Court wind farm
Moel Chwa Energy Park
Mynydd Bedwellte wind farm
Mynydd Carn-y-Cefn wind farm
Mynydd Fforch-Dwm wind farm
Mynydd Llanhilleth wind farm
Mynydd Lluest y Graig wind farm
Mynydd Maen wind farm
Mynydd Mawr Energy Park
Mynydd Ty-talwyn Energy Park
Mynydd y Gaer wind farm
Mynydd y Glyn wind farm
Nant Ceiment Energy Park
Nant Mithil Energy Park
Newhouse Farm wind turbines
Pant y Mean wind farm
Rhiwlas Energy Park
Rhyswg wind farm
Trecelyn wind farm
Trecwn Green Energy Hub
Twyn Hywel Energy Park (approved)
Upper Lliw Energy wind farm
Upper Ogmore wind farm (approved)
Waun Hesgog Energy Park
Waun Maenllwyd wind farm
Y Bryn wind farm
Blaencothi Energy Park
Bryn Glas Energy Park
Bryngwyn Energy Park
Maesnant Energy Park
Mwdwl Eithin Energy
Nant Aman Energy
Nant y Maen
Orddu Energy Park
Tarenni Energy Park
Llyn Lort II
Derwydd Bach
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