Green survey data disputed by locals

AN Earth Day study that names Perth as the least environmentally friendly city in Britain has been slated by MSPs.

The Solar Centre, specialists in eco-lighting products, said it pored over pages of government data and research to score UK cities on everything from waste management to air pollution, carbon emissions and electric car charging stations.

While naming Durham as the best performing with a total average score of 7.7, it placed Perth at the bottom of all 59 cities with just 3.91 points.

But the results have been criticised by locals, who say they cannot understand why Perth – home to two large parks in the city centre – received a low score for green spaces.

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “I find the details on Perth to be extraordinary, given all the green space.

“In addition, Perth and Kinross Council has taken a lot of action on a number of green issues.

“It is committed to the Dunkeld Road walking and cycling corridor, plus has a very good record on recycling. It looks like they’ve got their facts wrong.”

Liz Smith, also a Conservative MSP for MidScotland and Fife, said: “The more I look at this the more it becomes unfathomable. It seems to me there are too many parts of the data that don’t add up.”

SNP MP Pete Wishart said he was disappointed to see Perth at the bottom.

“I have to say that while I see a number of areas we can improve on, and the principal of these is air quality, I have to take issue with the perceived quality of our green spaces.

“Perth has much better developed and maintained green spaces and wooded areas than a number of the cities that ranked above it.”

A Solar Centre spokesman said: “Basically, we collected the data from various sources, mostly government data, and then used a formula to get a score between 0 and 10 for each city. Once each city had a score for each category, they were given a total average.”

Dundee is at number 25, with a total score of 6.01.