SCOTLAND'S most dubious civic honour has been awarded to the same town for the second time in four years.
Cumbernauld, the commuter town 15 miles north-east of Glasgow, has been crowned the country's most dismal place in the Carbuncle Awards.
The decision by this year's judges means it is the second time the post-war new town has been handed The Plook on the Plinth prize.
The North Lanarkshire town, likened to the war-ravaged Afghan capital Kabul when it won in 2001, was one of six towns shortlisted for the prize by Prospect, the architecture magazine.
The runners-up were Ardrossan in Ayrshire, Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire, Irvine in Ayrshire, Greenock in Inverclyde and the Granton district of Edinburgh.
The awards consist of three categories: The Plook on the Plinth for Scotland's most dismal town; The PockMark, for worst planning decision; and The Zit, for the most disappointing building.
The PockMark and The Zit were awarded to Glasgow: the former to the city'sM74 motorway extension and The Zit for The Pinnacle, a residential tower block overshadowing a nineteenth-century church designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson.
Nominations from the public were compiled into a shortlist by a panel comprising Richard Demarco, the arts impresario, Alan Taylor, associate editor of the Sunday Herald, architects LiamWilson and Colin Gordon, and Penny Lewis and Tim Abrahams, the editor of Prospect and her deputy.
The judges travelled Scotland on a bus in September to inspect the towns and some felt Cumbernauld had actually got worse since its win in 2001.
One of the judges was greeted with the comment "Welcome to Iraq" from a resident during their most recent visit.
Mr Abrahams, announcing the winner yesterday, said:
"Reading between the lines, people in Cumbernauld and the surrounding regions are rightly annoyed.
"Cumbernauld is an affluent town that is failing to live up to its potential.
"According to the Information and Statistics Division of NHS Scotland and Communities Scotland, in 2004 the average gross household income in Cumbernauld was higher than the national average.
"The number of children in workless households and the number of income support claimants was lower than the national average.
Yet the average house price in Cumbernauld is GBP57,000, a full 10 grand less than the mean cost of a house throughout the country."
David Porch, director of planning and environment at North Lanarkshire, said: "The council's opinion of this ridiculous event is unchanged.
"It is unhelpful, unjustified, negative thinking that does nothing to help anyone.
"Cumbernauld is a thriving, energetic, growing community that deserves to be recognised for its housing, schools, transport systems and excellent employment statistics.
"We are aware of the issues surrounding the town centre building but using one building to denigrate a whole town is not only unfair, it is irresponsible."
The council official added:
"We do not need Prospect magazine to tell us how to develop Cumbernauld.We are continually in the process of doing exactly that."
Cumbernauld attracted 28-per cent of the 6000 votes in the poll.
The first winner of the Carbuncle awards, which were launched in 2000, was its fellow North Lanarkshire town, Airdrie.
THE BLEMISHES The Plook on the Plinth, for Scotland's most dismal town Cumbernauld The Pock Mark, for worst planning decision M74 motorway extension in Glasgow The Zit, for the most disappointing building The Pinnacle, a residential Glasgow tower block overshadowing a church designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson, the renowned 19th-century architect
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