THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has removed Prestonpans from its list of most polluted communities. . . after confirming that it had confused the East Lothian town with the English city of Preston!

There was widespread concern when the global monitor named Prestonpans as Scotland’s most polluted town in its latest breakdown of pollution figures earlier this month.

The annual list used readings taken from 2013 and named Prestonpans as the worst offender in Scotland.

WHO released a similar report two years ago which also named and shamed Prestonpans – yet it was thought then that the reported high pollution levels in the town related to the former Cockenzie Power Station, which had been operational until March 2013.

However, East Lothian Council told the Courier earlier this month that it believed the reading was actually down to a geographical error by WHO, claiming that the organisation had confused Prestonpans with Preston in Lancashire, nearly 200 miles away.

And this week, the WHO confirmed that this was indeed the case.

In an email to senior environmental health officials at the local authority, representatives of WHO confirmed that they had confused the two communities due to a computer mapping error.

They said: “It is true that there was a mislabel in the datum for Prestonpans, which should have been labelled as Preston.

“This error originated in the previous database release when reverse geocoding the coordinates from the EEA (European Economic Area).”

The report has now been amended to remove the town from its records.