Newport, in South Wales, and Plymouth have been declared the greenest cities in Britain after their ecological footprints were analysed.

Residents in both cities require, on average, 5.01 hectares of the Earth’s surface to supply their needs every year. In Winchester, the worst-performing city in the league of ecological footprints, it took an average of 6.52 hectares to cope with the demands of each inhabitant.

But the levels of consumption in even the greenest cities are far too high, said the WWF, formerly the World Wide Fund for Nature, which commissioned the research.

While Newport and Plymouth have significantly smaller ecological impacts than places such as Winchester and St Albans, their consumption was described as well above the levels that the planet can sustain.

If the consumption levels of even the best-performing British cities was replicated worldwide, it would require the resources of 2.78 planets identical to Earth for the world to continue functioning. For the worst cities in Britain it would require 3.63 planets.

The analysis was carried out by CarbonPlan, an environmental consultancy, and the Stockholm Environment Institute, based at the University of York. Factors considered included the resources consumed through eating, use of transport, building and heating homes and clothing families.

Mobile phone usage, electricity used by household appliances such as televisions and dishwashers, the size of houses and the take-up of energy-saving measures such as cavity-wall insulation were taken into consideration. Information for the study was taken from databases held by the Office for National Statistics and tools used by market research companies that provide detailed insights based on postcodes into householders’ consumption.

Colin Butfield, of WWF, said: “We are depleting the Earth’s natural resources quicker than it can replace them, causing problems such as disappearing forests, declining fisheries and climate change. The battle for the environment will be won or lost in our cities. They have the highest potential for eco-living due to local facilities, public transport links, dense housing and shared public resources.

“While all cities and city dwellers could do more to reduce their impact on the environment, there are some great examples of good practice on areas such as transport and housing around the UK.”

Many of the placings in the report, Ecological Footprint of British City Residents, conformed closely to income and personal wealth, but researchers were surprised that Salisbury was the third-greenest city despite its strong similarities with Winchester. Salisbury had a high average house price of £261,000, above-average household wages of £424 a week and high employment levels, yet consumed at a rate almost a planet less than Winchester. Its ecological footprint was 2.79 planets and it was significantly greener than its near neighbour in its use of public transport, food and consumer products. Londoners had the second-lowest transport footprint because of the high use of buses, trains and the Tube.

By contrast, St Albans had a transport footprint 55 per cent higher because so many people drove to London to work. Glasgow was named as the best of the Scottish cities, with Edinburgh the worst. The biggest footprint in Wales was created by Bangor.

The ecological footprint is a measurement of the area of land and sea required to provide the food and materials consumed, to absorb their carbon emissions and to dispose of waste.

The report said: “If everyone in the world lived as we do in the UK, we would need three planets to support us. The amount we consume has a direct effect on climate change and species loss. We need to change our patterns of consumption to combat climate change, conserve the Amazon rainforest and protect our oceans.

“There is a link between cities that have the biggest disposable incomes and the cities with the biggest footprints per person. The link is not an automatic one: some well-off cities have a footprint that is smaller than might be expected. Where action is being taken the footprints reflect this.”

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