A roadside banner at a famous Powys viewpoint objecting to a proposed windfarm has been stolen, campaigners have said.

A banner, that once stood on a gate at the Wynford Vaughan-Thomas Memorial on the mountain road between Machynlleth and Staylittle has reportedly been stolen from its home.

The banner is critical of a proposed windfarm by Bute Energy, at Glaslyn and was put together by the group Protect Glaslyn & Hafren, who have organised other protests against the proposal.

Maya Bimson, a local resident and Chair of Protect Glaslyn & Hafren, said: “We had the permission of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW) who manage the site and had put up their notice of permission along with the banner on the evening of Saturday, August 10, but by 3pm on Sunday 11 August it had gone.

“This is a free country and it is completely unacceptable to steal something just because you disagree with the views.

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“We have reported the theft to the police along with an earlier theft of two banners”.

The banner was located on the Wynford Vaughan-Thomas Memorial, named for the broadcaster who reported from the front lines during World War II who would later write about his love for the Welsh mountain landscape.

He also served as president of CPRW between 1968 and 1975, with the organisation building a memorial for him after he passed away in 1987.

After the spot was vandalised, £11,000 was raised to repair and re-open the memorial in 2010, then Director of CPRW, Peter Ogden, calling it “a special and fitting tribute to one of Wales’ greatest environmental champions and a person who truly appreciated the importance and magnificence of our Welsh landscapes”.

Earlier this year, Protect Glaslyn & Hafren organised a a community hike that saw 85 people walk from Dylife car park, along Glyndwr’s Way to Glaslyn Nature Reserve and back to protest the Bute Energy windfarm.

Ms Bimson added: “Protect Glaslyn & Hafren is trying to protect the very landscapes which Wynford Vaughan-Thomas loved.

“On a good day you can see 50 miles from the land near Glaslyn, all the way to the slopes of Yr Wyddfa, but Bute Energy’s proposed wind turbines would ruin the view to those magnificent peaks.”