Port Glasgow named Scotland’s ‘most dismal town’ by Carbuncle Awards

Port Glasgow has been named Scotland’s “most dismal” town by the controversial Carbuncle Awards.

The Inverclyde town, famed for its shipbuilding past, becomes the latest recipient of the Plook on the Plinth trophy.

Urban Realm, the architecture journal behind the awards, said it was an area of “squandered potential”.

It comes after a ten-year hiatus of the Carbuncles, with Cumbernauld, Glenrothes and Aberdeen among the previous winners.

The awards have previously been criticised for demonising struggling towns.

But some believe they encourage local councils to improve the area.

Urban Realm said Port Glasgow was built from “great bones” but recent investment had been “haphazard and misdirected”.

It added the town had “fallen the furthest” of all the nominees.

Urban Realm editor John Glenday said: “Look beyond the grey walls, rubble and boarded-up windows to long vistas and you will see the beauty of the place, still punctuated by the grandeur of the library.

“Unfortunately, the immediate environment fails to do justice to what could and should be a jewel in the Clyde’s crown.”

He added Clune Park, dubbed “Scotland’s Chernobyl”, was “solidly built” and “once home to a thriving community”

Mr Glenday said: “Issues around population decline and deprivation are real but are best dealt with by working with established assets, not sweeping buildings aside in the hope that the underlying problems will go away.”

The journal said Port Glasgow was “dominated” by a retail park and dual carriageway which “dulls the senses while sucking life from the town centre”.

It said the town had neglected its waterfront and criticised the decision to demolish Clune Park.

The tenements on the estate were built a century ago as housing for shipyard workers but had lain mostly abandoned for years.

A stand-off between private landlords and the local council thwarted any attempts at redevelopment.

It added: “By ignoring today’s retrofit priorities, Port Glasgow risks falling further with the B-listed Clune Park School and Church being particularly egregious losses.”

Urban Realm said it hoped the award would encourage change in the town.

BBC Scotland News has approached Inverclyde Council for comment.