The final submissions from those who want to establish Europe's largest wind farm on the island of Lewis were lodged with the Scottish Government yesterday.

The island must now await ministers' final decision on whether the £500m project, which would result in 181 turbines being erected in the north and west of Lewis, will get the go-ahead.

Developers Lewis Wind Power received a letter from the Scottish Government three weeks ago indicating that the project was unlikely to win ministerial approval. The letter said that the proposal would have "significant adverse impact" on a site which is protected by European environmental directives.

A spokesman for Lewis Wind Power said last night: "We have submitted our response to the Scottish Government's letter today. This follows a meeting earlier in the week with officials which we thought went positively, but we can't discuss anything in our letter."

There had been speculation that the developers had suggested a compromise of a phased development but this was not confirmed and the spokesman said: "If the government decided to come back to us with suggestions for a revised proposal obviously we would consider it at that time."

Western Isles Council has advocated the project, which will inject £6m a year into the local community and bring 300 jobs. A spokesman said yesterday: "We will be making further representations to ministers, underlining our support for this project."

Opinion on the island has always been sharply divided with more than 5000 objections made to the project.