Sheffield knocked off its 'green' perch as research shows city centre among very worst in country

Sheffield University boffins analysed 68 municipalities for trees, green spaces and vegetation and found Exeter was the greenest, followed by Islington, Bristol, Bournemouth and Cambridge.

Glasgow was the least green city centre, according to the study’s criteria, with Middlesbrough, Sheffield, Liverpool, and Leeds, making up the bottom five.

Sheffield is renowned as the greenest city in the country overall, with more trees per person than any other city in Europe. It has 250 public parks and 52 square miles of national park.

But the core is is more built-up, thought to be due to the city’s industrial heritage, according to Dr Paul Brindley, senior author of the study from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Landscape Architecture.

He added: “Sheffield is a spectacular city for green space with the Peak District on its doorstep and more trees per person than any other city in Europe, however its city centre doesn’t rank highly in terms of greenness compared to other urban centres. This was one of our most surprising findings, and is perhaps due to the city’s industrial heritage and how the city developed.

“This highlights why the study is so important and the vital need to identify green space inequalities even in the least obvious places and promote measures to address them.

“For example, work is already being done in Sheffield’s city centre to bring it inline with the leafy suburbs.”

Pounds Park is under construction on Wellington Street, a new park is planned on the castle site and ‘Grey to Green’ planting schemes along major roads would all make the city greener, he added.

And the findings reveal a clear divide between the city centres with the most green all located in the South of England, whilst the lowest scoring cities are ex-industrial areas in the North.

Following their findings, researchers also uncovered a statistical link between a lower greenness score and higher levels of deprivation. It’s hoped that the results will help inform efforts by local authorities to boost the greenness of urban centres and reduce the disparity between those in the North and the South.