\n The awards, which have been widely criticised in the past for doing down towns which are struggling, have returned after an absence of 10 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n The journal singled out the\u00a0Gallagher Shopping Park and A8 dual carriageway which \u201cdulls the senses while sucking life from the town centre\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n Urban Realm said the Gallagher Shopping Park ‘sucked life away from the town centre’. (Image: George Munro) It also criticised the decision to demolish the town\u2019s long-derelict Clune Park tenements.\n<\/p>\n
\n Event organiser and Urban Realm editor John Glenday said:\u00a0\u201cHaving paused to catch our breath, the Carbuncle Awards have emerged into a post-Covid world, where issues around housing, retail and public service provision are more acute than ever.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Port Glasgow is a town of squandered potential. Look beyond the grey walls, rubble and boarded-up windows to long vistas\u00a0and\u00a0you will see the beauty of the place, still punctuated by the grandeur of the library.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Unfortunately, the immediate environment fails to do justice to what could and should be a jewel in the Clyde’s crown. Clune Park was solidly built and once home to a thriving community\u00a0and\u00a0with investment, it could have done so again.\n<\/p>\n
\n “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.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Coronation Park and Port Glasgow Library (Image: George Munro)\n<\/p>\n
\n Inverclyde\u2019s Provost, Port Glasgow resident and local business owner Drew McKenzie, said the award’s 10-year absence ‘speaks for itself’.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: \u201cIt\u2019s ironic that Port Glasgow has been bestowed this \u2018honour\u2019 at a time of transformation and celebration for the town \u2013 and in the town\u2019s 250th\u00a0anniversary year, which saw record crowds gather to celebrate the past, present and future of the town.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHowever, as Oscar Wilde famously said, \u2018there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about\u2019, and this provides an opportunity to highlight how this so-called award couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSadly this \u2018study\u2019 focuses on a few very specific areas but Port Glasgow is so much more. The fact that these \u2018awards\u2019 have been missing without notice for a decade speaks for itself.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: George Munro)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere aren\u2019t many places that boast a town centre with award-winning businesses, a recently restored building from the 1700s, a successful retail park, a castle, the last commercial shipyard on the Lower Clyde, a famous sculpture, first-class transport links by road, rail, air and sea, a swimming pool, new housing, and wonderful outdoor spaces all surrounded by breathtaking views \u2013 and that\u2019s just one area.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cTo the east and west of the town centre are some of Inverclyde\u2019s newest and most desirable places to live while the east is also home to a successful business park with ambitious plans for expansion, and Parklea which features a brand new community hub, horticultural centre, and caf\u00e9, a community sports stadium surrounded by several grass and all-weather pitches, stunning scenery, and plans for an exciting new \u2018destination\u2019 children\u2019s play park.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere\u2019s also upper Port Glasgow with a strong local community surrounded by excellent community facilities, including a recently revamped community centre piloting a national childcare project, a golf course, brand new or extensively refurbished schools, and a variety of modern playparks, and outdoor spaces.\n<\/p>\n
\n Provost Drew McKenzie accused Urban Realm of ‘not doing their homework’. (Image: Contributed) \u201cPort Glasgow is of course, like most areas, not without its challenges but we\u2019re working closely with the local community and other partners to continually look at how we can make Port Glasgow an even better place to live, work, visit and do business.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cClune Park was largely a privately-owned housing estate that had fallen into a dangerous condition due to years of neglect, anti-social behaviour, and deliberate fires.\n<\/p>\n
\n Urban Realm criticised the decision to demolish Clune Park. (Image: George Munro) \u201cThe demolition works are enforced and are being carried out in the interests of safety because dangerous buildings notices were served on residential properties, as well as the former church and school, due to their perilous conditions in line with the council\u2019s statutory responsibilities.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s extremely difficult to save let alone repurpose roof and high-level wall structures that are at risk of imminent collapse.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSeparate to this, it remains the council\u2019s ambition to regenerate the area and we have been actively acquiring properties from private owners over a number of years and we now own a substantial proportion of the estate.\n<\/p>\n
\n Phase one of Clune Park’s demolition was completed earlier this summer. (Image: George Munro) \u201cThere is a masterplan for Clune Park and, subject to availability of funding and necessary permissions, what we have is an exciting opportunity to create new housing and make it a desirable place to live once again.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe continue to showcase sites in and around Port Glasgow to a range of developers and have generated interest in working to regenerate Clune Park with the development sector, through a recent housing summit.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that the expert judges didn\u2019t do their homework but we would be delighted to welcome them to Port Glasgow to see for themselves the many wonderful things the town has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The awards, which have been widely criticised in the past for doing down towns which are struggling, have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-413289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-scotland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115180375105311881","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}