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May 2012
Shock as Carbuncle favourite named Scotland's best town

Shock as Carbuncle favourite named Scotland's best town

May 25 2012

Cumbernauld, winner of the inaugural Carbuncle Awards, has become the inaugural winner of the Civic Pride Awards - an accolade established by Urban Realm and the Scottish Design Awards to recognise the best spaces and places in Scotland.

Thousands of people nominated their favourite places which in turn led to a shortlist of the most popular locales in two separate categories; Best Neighbourhood and Best Town/Village.

Cumbernauld's win represents a reversal in fortunes for the town since picking up the infamous Plook on the Plinth trophy in 2001. Four years later it became the only town to win this dubious honour twice. Now, poetically, the maligned town has been brought in from the cold.

Urban Realm editor John Glenday said: “Cumbernauld has been synonymous with the Carbuncles for the past decade but this latest accolade paints an altogether different picture of this much maligned town.

“The enthusiasm with which residents have rallied to their towns cause illustrates that the glue which holds are towns together isn’t bricks and mortar; it is the social interactions and community spirit exemplified by the Civic Pride Awards.

“I hope that this result can serve as a springboard for Cumbernauld to press ahead with much needed regeneration of its centre and embrace the future with justified confidence.”

The full shortlist was: Broughty Ferry, Cumbernauld, Dunkeld, East Kilbride, Eaglesham Linlithgow, Peebles, Pitlochry.

The voting produced a close run affair, with Cumbernauld narrowly beating Peebles to the prize.

The shortlist for the Best Neighbourhood was: Gorbals, Govan, Kelvinside, Leith, Morningside, Partick, Shawlands with Govan winning through in that round.

Cumbernauld will receive its accolade at the Scottish Design Awards, taking place tonight at the Radisson Hotel, Glasgow.

4 Comments

#1 Posted by Rem Koolbag on 25 May 2012 at 17:06 PM

And who gives out the equivalent of the Plook award for magazine article writing? Look out Urban Realm, this piece is so badly written you could have the award for years to come!

#2 Posted by Charles Colquhoun on 26 May 2012 at 02:32 AM

The winners were Govan, with second place going to Partick. Huh, Govan is a dump and dead at night..people should get real.. and see the reality around them.