THE go-ahead for Europe's largest onshore windfarm to be built in South Lanarkshire is a clear sign the Scottish Government wants to take its green responsibilities seriously.

Yesterday's announcement endorsing the plan for 152 turbines near Abington in Lanarkshire is the latest such project to be given the green light since the SNP took office last year.

WINDFARMS are springing up throughout the West of Scotland. The Whitelee development on Eaglesham Moor is currently the biggest onshore windfarm under construction in the UK. Reader Poll More wind turbines are to be built. Critics say they are inefficient eyesores. Are windfarms a good investment? Yes 71.7% No 25.4% Don't know 2.9% But if Glasgow City Council has its way, the city will be the first in the UK to produce its own power. It wants to build five turbines - each the size of the Glasgow Science Centre tower - on Cathkin Braes on the edge of the city. Council chiefs say the move would create enough power to pay for all the city's street lights and would pay for itself within six years. The Hagshaw Hill windfarm near Douglas, South Lanarkshire, was the first to be approved in Scotland. It was commissioned in 1995 and consists of 26 turbines. A 12-turbine development is operated by Airtricity on land between Ardrossan and West Kilbride in North Ayrshire, producing electricity for 20,000 homes. Six turbines were built in 2001 at Wardlaw Wood, near Dalry, by Dalry Community Windfarm. They produce a maximum of 18mw of clean electricity. Hare Hill wind farm near new Cumnock consists of 20 turbines. And 42 turbines have been built on the site of a former opencast mine at Black Law, near Forth, South Lanarkshire.

If campaigners have their way, Glasgow will soon be effectively ringed' by a series of windfarms.

One planned development at Cathkin Braes, to the south of the city, could power all the city's street and traffic lights saving the council millions of pounds a year.

But even within the country's environmental movement, reaction to the granting of more windfarm developments has been mixed.

The £600million Clyde windfarm near Abington, as reported in later editions of last night's Evening Times, is expected to create 200 construction jobs and 30 full-time jobs. It will be capable of providing electricity to more than 300,000 homes.

But despite First Minister Alex Salmond's claim that this will help make Scotland the green energy capital of Europe', many remain sceptical.

Gillian Bishop, of the campaign group Views of Scotland, believes the growing number of turbines will have a serious negative impact on the country's scenery and landscape.

She said of the Abington project: "It is on the main drive up from England and locals don't want tourists to be con- fronted by dozens of turbines.

"There is also concern that there are a lot of other appli- cations in for nearby areas.

"If the windfarms are built and they affect tourism badly then it's too late and peace and quiet and scenery is one of the few things Scotland has nowadays."

Mr Salmond, speaking ahead of his visit to the World Renewable Energy Congress being held this week at the SECC in Glasgow, said the Scottish Government has an ambitious target to generate 31% of Scotland's electricity demand from renewable sources by 2011 and 50% by 2020.

He was backed by environmental groups.

Dr Doug Parr, Greenpeace chief scientist, said: "Scotland has a key role to play in devel- oping renewable energy and in tackling climate change.

"This announcement is good news on both of these fronts and the windfarm should create many green-collar jobs. Hopefully, this will be only one of many such announcements."

And WWF Scotland Director, Dr Richard Dixon, said: "The Clyde windfarm is a good proposal as it is close to major centres of population - who will use the power it generates - and away from Scotland's most valuable landscapes.

"Scotland needs more of this sort of large, Central Belt windfarm to help us move quickly to clean, green energy."

The Clyde windfarm will be built "in clusters" on each side of the M74, creating capacity of 548 megawatts.

It will be larger than the Whitelee Farm currently being built by ScottishPower on Eaglesham Moor a project which some East End residents have accused of interfering with their television signal.

Once complete Whitelee will have 140 turbines which will be visible to 1.5million people every day.

ScottishPower is spending several million pounds on a visitor centre there and it insists that the site will still be a draw for ramblers, mountain bikers and birdwatchers.

Each of the Whitelee turbines are 200ft high and 300ft to the tip of the blade.

They are being transported across moorland - known as one of Scotland's "wilderness" areas - on which more than 90km of roads have been laid and bridges built.

ScottishPower said the project will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 650,000 tonnes a year, the equivalent to the output of 240,000 cars.

But Gillian Bishop, who lives in the shadow of the Whitelee development, said there is a growing need to balance alternative energy with the preservation of Scotland's scenic beauty.