An energy company's plans for a wind farm on Lewis have been drastically reduced.

An energy company's plans for a wind farm on Lewis have been drastically reduced.

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has revised its proposals for the project in the Pairc area of Lewis and now wants to erect only 26 turbines. Three years ago it was planning 125.

In 2007, SSE announced it was scaling down the number of turbines from 125 to 57 but that they would be bigger than those originally planned. However, in December of that year Western Isles Council recommended that a further 31 turbines be deleted.

Despite councillors concern about the potential multi-million pound loss of community benefit, the local authority urged SSE to submit a new bid based on the 26 turbines site it found acceptable.

SSE's development manager, Chris Marden, said: "I believe that the amended proposal demonstrates that we have carefully considered the response to our original application, and we are hopeful that it will meet the requirements of the council, statutory consultees and expectations of the community."

A spokesman for the council said: "We look forward to seeing the details of this scheme."