IT is an unflattering honour bestowed on some of Scotland's least glamorous locations.
Now Linwood in Renfrewshire is the latest recipient of the dreaded Carbuncle Award or "Plook-on-the-Plinth", for architectural inelegance (to put it politely).
Organisers of the awards were apparently "shocked" by the state of the town which has been the subject of a tortuous saga of promised redevelopment.
Urban Realm magazine's editor John Glenday said: "It's been three months of trudging around some of the countries darkest corners but in the end judging for the 2011 Carbuncle Awards didn't prove too challenging, Linwood's plight was simply too great to ignore.
"Scotland's first shopping centre is also its worst, leaving Linwood as a town without a heart – but it isn't a lost cause. It could be turned around and turned around quite quickly. To do so however requires action, it is in this spirit as a catalyst for change that Linwood has been awarded the 2012 Carbuncle award."
Linwood has been no stranger to controversy since it first made headlines as the location of S1 Jobs infamous "Lavvy Heid" advert.
A planned redevelopment driven forward by Tesco, who are promising a massive store in the town, has taken years to come to fruition.
In November, a corner seemed finally to have been turned when Renfrewshire Council agreed to sell land to the supermarket giant in a £1.5 million deal which should make the project a reality.
Tesco is promising a supermarket which will provide 300 jobs and new community facilities including a library and a community centre.
But sale of the land in the protracted saga — which has been bogged down by discussions between Tesco, the council and the NHS over a new health centre — has not come quickly enough to stop organisers of the Carbuncle Awards handing the town the award.
Linwood resident Tom Burke of local group Linwood Sucks that received the awards said: "I've spent the best part of four years in Iraq and thinking of some of the positive reconstruction work that's taken place there it's actually better than this."
Councillor Iain Nicolson, convener of Renfrewshire Council's Planning and Economic Policy Development Board, said: "It's rather ironic that Linwood has been given this award just at the time when there are major projects under way to improve the area's environment and economic prospects. Linwood has always had a strong sense of community and that is helping to drive forward renewal. The much maligned shopping centre is being replaced.
"Renfrewshire Council has worked with Tesco to bring forward a planning application which has now been approved and which will help regenerate the area along with investment and new jobs. Renfrewshire Council's multimillion-pound investment in new community and sports facilities has prioritised Linwood with a new £23m community sports hub scheduled to open in spring 2013.
"That will incorporate leisure and social care facilities. Overall, Linwood is not a community in decline but one which has practical proposals well under way to improve its future."
Earlier this year a multimillionpound project to transform the standard of housing in Linwood was hailed as an example to the nation.
The work of Sanctuary Housing Association was voted the "best regeneration project" in Scotland after they successfully delivered almost 200 new homes for residents
A panel of industry experts said the project was "an outstanding example of how regeneration can transform a community".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article