Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2003

Statistical Bulletin ENV/2004/1 Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2003

2 Derelict and Urban Vacant land

2.1 Derelict land (and buildings) is that which has been so damaged by development or use that it is incapable of being developed for beneficial use without rehabilitation, and which is not being used for either the purpose for which it is held, or for a use acceptable in a local plan. The main exceptions are operational sites where rehabilitation would not be possible or appropriate within five years, and land which is derelict through natural causes (for example, neglected woodland or farmland) and which appears to have blended into the landscape. All sites where contamination is known or suspected are classed as derelict.

2.2 Vacant land is located in urban settlements (defined here as possessing a population of 2,000 or more) or within one kilometre of the edge of such settlements which is considered to display the characteristics of urban vacant land; that is, land which is unused or unsightly, or which would benefit from development or improvement and will be referred to as 'urban vacant land' throughout this bulletin. The main exceptions to this definition are for land held for operational needs, agricultural land, urban fringe land and open space within the built up area, even where these offer the prospects of future development. Full details of the definitions are given in the Annex.

Table 1: Derelict and urban vacant land ¹ by local authority area, 2003

Local Authority	Derelict Land			Urban Vacant Land			Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land
Local Authority	Area (ha)	% of Derelict Land (by Area) ²	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	% of Urban Vacant Land (by Area) ²	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	% of Total V&D Land (by Area) ²	No. of Sites
Aberdeen City	66	1	20	39	1	28	105	1	48
Aberdeenshire	77	1	21	41	1	28	118	1	49
Angus	120	2	32	36	1	21	156	1	53
Argyll & Bute ³	14	*	17	32	1	47	46	*	64
Clackmannanshire	56	1	19	22	1	18	78	1	37
Dumfries & Galloway	307	4	37	51	2	18	358	3	55
Dundee City	45	1	19	179	6	189	224	2	208
East Ayrshire	282	4	71	48	2	48	330	3	119
East Dunbartonshire	53	1	16	70	2	26	123	1	42
East Lothian	95	1	39	27	1	16	122	1	55
East Renfrewshire	35	*	27	11	*	10	46	*	37
Edinburgh, City of	76	1	21	47	1	24	123	1	45
Eilean Siar	1	*	2	10	*	7	11	*	9
Falkirk	121	2	38	134	4	79	255	2	117
Fife	648	8	88	103	3	77	750	7	165
Glasgow City	743	10	280	602	19	598	1,345	12	878
Highland ⁴	937	12	221	216	7	175	1,154	11	396
Inverclyde	62	1	39	80	3	95	142	1	134
Midlothian	259	3	88	30	1	22	289	3	110
Moray ³	7	*	8	32	1	42	39	*	50
North Ayrshire	357	5	115	198	6	126	555	5	241
North Lanarkshire	1,040	13	213	469	15	201	1,509	14	414
Orkney Islands	9	*	10	9	*	11	18	*	21
Perth & Kinross	68	1	18	42	1	13	109	1	31
Renfrewshire	822	11	50	186	6	130	1,007	9	180
Scottish Borders ³	40	1	38	25	1	41	65	1	79
Shetland Islands ³	-	-	-	2	*	5	2	*	5
South Ayrshire	123	2	32	21	1	20	144	1	52
South Lanarkshire	468	6	131	167	5	137	635	6	268
Stirling	169	2	32	40	1	33	210	2	65
West Dunbartonshire	183	2	86	39	1	40	222	2	126
West Lothian	458	6	47	98	3	22	556	5	69
Scotland	7,741	*100*	1,875	3,107	*100*	2,347	10,847	*100*	4,222

Figures may not sum due to rounding
As a percentage of the total vacant/derelict land recorded in Scotland
2002 data have been used for the following council areas: Argyll and Bute, Scottish Borders and the Shetland Islands.
A partial survey was completed for Highland - see Annex A.10

2.3 Sites covering less than 0.1 hectares are excluded unless a group of adjacent sites exceeds 0.1 hectares and can be counted as a single contiguous site. The information recorded in the survey is listed in the Annex.

2.4 Table 1 shows that in 2003 there were 10,847 hectares of derelict and urban vacant land, of which 71 per cent was classified as derelict (7,741 hectares). Four councils, North Lanarkshire, Glasgow City, Highland and Renfrewshire together contain 46 per cent of the recorded derelict and urban vacant land. The same four councils also contain 46 per cent of all derelict land while Glasgow City and North Lanarkshire have 34 per cent of all urban vacant land. Chart 1 (page 1) shows the 10 councils containing most derelict and urban vacant land.

Derelict Land

2.5 Chart 2 shows the ten councils with the highest percentage of derelict land in relation to their administrative area. The figures for all councils can be found in Annex Table A.

Chart 2: Derelict land as a percentage of local authority administrative area, 2003

chart 2

2.6 Approximately 4.2 per cent of Glasgow City's land area, 3.1 per cent of Renfrewshire's and 2.2 per cent of North Lanarkshire's is recorded as derelict.

Urban Vacant Land

2.7 Chart 3 shows the ten councils with the highest amount of urban vacant land.

Chart 3: Urban Vacant land (hectares) by local authority, 2003

chart 3

2.8 Glasgow City and North Lanarkshire together account for 34 per cent of all recorded urban vacant land in Scotland.

Comparison of derelict and urban vacant land (hectares) between 1996-2003

2.9 Table 2 shows the trend in the area of recorded derelict and urban vacant land in the years 1996-2003. It should be noted that some of the councils did not participate in the 2003 and/or earlier surveys. In these cases, the most recent available data have been used to provide an estimate for the appropriate year.

2.10 Since 1996, the total amount of recorded derelict and urban vacant land has decreased by 2,254 hectares, with the biggest decrease reported by North Lanarkshire (1,139 hectares). The total amount of vacant land has decreased every year since 1996 and, compared with 2003, this reduction is 1,512 hectares. West Lothian reported the largest decrease of urban vacant land since 1996, 355 hectares.

2.11 The amount of derelict and urban vacant land recorded in the survey can change between years for a number of reasons. Sites may increase in size or new sites may be added to the survey ( Table 16), partial or complete sites may be brought back into productive use ( Table 17), and sites may be removed for definitional reasons ( Annex Table B) or due to naturalisation ( Annex Table C). Because sites may be removed from the survey for definitional reasons, previous reductions in the amount of derelict and urban vacant land recorded may not necessarily indicate that all the land removed was brought back into productive use.

Table 2: Derelict and urban vacant land ¹ by local authority area, 1996-2003 ²

Local Authority	Derelict Land Area (ha)								Urban Vacant Land Area (ha)								Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land Area (ha)
Local Authority	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Aberdeen City	78	77	77	68	68	77	77	66	112	106	106	71	61	75	75	39	190	184	184	139	129	152	152	105
Aberdeenshire	132	131	93	93	92	90	78	77	58	60	59	59	53	53	44	41	190	191	152	152	145	143	122	118
Angus	337	333	339	227	186	184	179	120	52	42	43	29	29	34	36	36	389	375	381	257	215	217	216	156
Argyll & Bute	22	22	17	17	17	17	14	14	50	41	38	38	37	37	32	32	73	63	55	55	54	54	46	46
Clackmannanshire	49	36	36	36	30	35	48	56	22	21	28	28	27	20	27	22	71	57	64	63	57	55	76	78
Dumfries & Galloway	304	305	305	303	306	307	307	307	61	65	67	61	55	58	52	51	365	371	372	364	361	364	360	358
Dundee City	79	79	71	60 ^R1	60 ^R1	46 ^R1	49	45	203	200	217	193 ^R1	193 ^R1	213 ^R1	197	179	282	279	288	254 ^R1	254 ^R1	259 ^R1	247	224
East Ayrshire	445	445	453	400	349	349	275	282	119	119	114	77	92	77	80	48	564	564	568	477	441	426	355	330
East Dunbartonshire	57	66	66	64	66	68	85	53	52	47	43	36	27	25	49	70	109	113	109	100	94	94	135	123
East Lothian	218	210	197	80	101	100	99	95	43	40	39	26	39	34	28	27	261	250	236	106	139	134	127	122
East Renfrewshire	18	18	15	13	13	13	19	35	32	36	28	24	20	19	21	11	50	54	42	37	33	32	40	46
Edinburgh, City of	84	79	80	68	111	111	111	76	70	66	63	54	51	56	56	47	154	145	143	122	162	167	167	123
Eilean Siar	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	14	11	12	10	10	10	10	10	16	13	13	11	11	11	11	11
Falkirk	184	183	110	103	103	102 ^R2	132	121	218	195	123	101	101	154 ^R2	147	134	402	378	233	204	204	256 ^R2	279	255
Fife	614	620	798	772	613	584	582	648	153	135	150	203	154	81	85	103	767	754	948	975	767	665	667	750
Glasgow City	894	899	883	831	804	756	767	743	726	691	709	737	682	646	616	602	1,620	1,590	1,592	1,568	1,486	1,402	1,383	1,345
Highland	315	315	315	315	315	315	950	937	498	498	498	498	498	498	231	216	813	813	813	813	813	813	1,181	1,154
Inverclyde	50	69	72	65	67	65	64	62	80	53	52	58	60	67	63	80	131	122	124	123	126	132	127	142
Midlothian	400	363	332	342	333	256	257	259	58	61	60	52	49	38	38	30	458	424	393	394	382	294	295	289
Moray	34	34	34	34	34	34	7 ^R3	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	32 ^R3	32	41	41	41	41	41	41	39 ^R3	39
North Ayrshire	243	239	230	245	237	270	270	357	129	153	153	168	164	158	158	198	372	392	383	414	401	428	428	555
North Lanarkshire	2,179	1,651	1,385	1,335	1,335	1,332	1,090	1,040	579	716	572	686	686	607	513	469	2,757	2,367	1,958	2,021	2,021	1,939	1,603	1,509
Orkney Islands	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	9	13	13	11	25	14	10	10	9	25	25	23	38	26	22	22	18
Perth & Kinross	75	78	86	101	98	79	68	68	44	46	72	73	66	52	43	42	119	123	157	174	164	131	111	109
Renfrewshire	95	61	244	242	243	256	823	822	252	198	177	171	158	172	167	186	347	259	421	413	400	428	989	1,007
Scottish Borders	54	57	55	48	48	41	40 ^R3	40	22	33	33	31	31	27	25 ^R3	25	76	90	87	79	79	69	65 ^R3	65
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2
South Ayrshire	21	25	28	28	132	124	122	123	89	108	123	123	32	32	31	21	111	133	152	152	164	156	152	144
South Lanarkshire	514	463	457	486	497	502	479	468	233	220	205	203	205	185	172	167	747	684	662	689	702	686	651	635
Stirling	125	125	120	146	170	165	161	169	48	48	41	73	41	35	43	40	173	173	161	219	211	200	203	210
West Dunbartonshire	85	99	112	117	123	123	150	183	129	132	131	113	102	93	74	39	214	230	243	230	225	216	224	222
West Lothian	762	762	762	584	584	409	449	458	453	453	453	342	342	120	124	98	1,216	1,216	1,216	925	925	529	573	556
Scotland	8,482	7,858	7,787	7,237 ^R1	7,148 ^R1	6,825 ^R1,2	7,767 ^R3	7,741	4,618	4,612	4,425	4,371 ^R1	4,086 ^R1	3,692 ^R1,2	3,282 ^R3	3,107	13,101	12,470	12,212	11,608 ^R1	11,233 ^R1	10,517 ^R1,2	11,049 ^R3	10,847

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding
2. See Annex D for details of council participation in different years
R1. Revised to correct 2 Dundee City sites included in error in 1999, 2000 and 2001
R2. Revised to remove a number of Falkirk sites included in error in 2001.
R3. Revised to include late 2002 data

2.12 The distribution of derelict and urban vacant land by Local Enterprise Company (LEC) area is shown in Table 3. The four Local Enterprise Company areas with the highest levels of derelict and urban vacant land are Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire (2,144 hectares), Scottish Enterprise Glasgow (1,345 hectares), Scottish Enterprise Renfrewshire (1,195 hectares) and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian (1,089 hectares). Together, they contain 53 per cent of the recorded derelict and urban vacant land in Scotland.

Table 3: Derelict and urban vacant land ¹ by Local Enterprise Company area, 2003 ²

Local Enterprise Company	Derelict Land			Urban Vacant Land			Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land
Local Enterprise Company	Area (ha)	% of Derelict Land (by Area)	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	% of Urban Vacant Land (by Area)	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	% of Total V&D Land (by Area)	No. of Sites
Scottish Enterprise	6,778	88	1,623	2,814	91	2,065	9,592	88	3,688
SE Ayrshire	762	10	218	266	9	194	1,029	9	412
SE Borders	40	1	38	25	1	41	65	1	79
SE Dumfries & Galloway	307	4	37	51	2	18	358	3	55
SE Dunbartonshire	242	3	108	118	4	71	360	3	179
SE Edinburgh & Lothian	888	11	195	202	6	84	1,089	10	279
SE Fife	648	8	88	103	3	77	750	7	165
SE Forth Valley	346	4	89	197	6	130	543	5	219
SE Glasgow	743	10	280	602	19	598	1,345	12	878
SE Grampian	143	2	41	80	3	56	223	2	97
SE Lanarkshire	1,508	19	344	636	20	338	2,144	20	682
SE Renfrewshire	918	12	116	277	9	235	1,195	11	351
SE Tayside	232	3	69	257	8	223	489	5	292
Highlands & Islands Enterprise	963	12	252	293	9	282	1,256	12	534
Argyll & The Islands Enterprise	8	*	11	23	1	42	31	*	53
Caithness & Sutherland Enterprise	81	1	82	40	1	51	121	1	133
Inverness & Nairn Enterprise	87	1	18	43	1	37	130	1	55
Lochaber Limited	30	*	33	19	1	14	49	*	47
Moray, Badenoch & Strathspey Enterprise	20	*	32	43	1	55	63	1	87
Orkney Enterprise	9	*	10	9	*	11	18	*	21
Ross & Cromarty Enterprise	717	9	33	101	3	55	819	8	88
Shetland Enterprise	-	-	-	2	*	5	2	*	5
Skye & Lochalsh Enterprise	9	*	31	2	*	5	11	*	36
Western Isles Enterprise	1	*	2	10	*	7	11	*	9
Scotland	7,741	*100*	1,875	3,107	*100*	2,347	10,847	*100*	4,222

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding
2. 2002 data have been used for the following council areas: Argyll and Bute, Moray, Scottish Borders and the Shetland Islands.

2.13 LEC areas provide the most closely consistent geographical boundaries upon which a time series can be constructed prior to 1996. The only major change following local government reorganisation in 1996 was the expansion of the Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire boundary (See Annex A.11 for details). Table 4 shows the distribution of derelict and urban vacant land through time. The entire series has been adjusted so that Cumbernauld and Kilsyth are included in the figures for Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire and not Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire. The footnotes to the table describe the treatment of other boundary changes. Where a local authority did not participate in the survey in any given year, the most recently collected data have been used to provide estimates for the relevant LEC area. Annex Table D shows participation rates by local authorities.

2.14 Since 1993, there has been a decrease in the amount of derelict and urban vacant land recorded from 15,400 hectares in 1993 to 10,847 in 2003 (Table 4). This is partly attributable to land being brought back into productive use, and partly due to land being removed for definitional reasons or due to naturalisation. The biggest decreases over time have been seen in Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire (1,641 hectares), Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian (1,085 hectares) and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow (792 hectares).

Table 4: Derelict and urban vacant land ¹ by Local Enterprise Company area, 1993-2003 ²

Local Enterprise Company	Derelict Land Area (ha)											Urban Vacant Land Area (ha)											Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land Area (ha)
Local Enterprise Company	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Scottish Enterprise
SE Ayrshire	709	712	676	721	709	712	676	721	746	667	762	288	267	268	266	380	391	369	288	267	268	266	1,097	1,089	1,061	1,046	1,089	1,102	1,045	1,009	1,013	936	1,029
SE Borders	57	55	48	48	57	55	48	48	41	40 ^R3	40	31	27	25	25	33	33	31	31	27	25 ^R3	25	188	75	75	76	90	87	79	79	69	65	65
SE Dumfries & Galloway	305	305	303	306	305	305	303	306	307	307	307	55	58	52	51	65	67	61	55	58	52	51	413	369	365	365	371	372	364	361	364	360	358
SE Dunbartonshire ³	178	184	187	195	178	184	187	195	198	241	242	141	129	132	118	189	185	160	141	129	132	118	608	548	496	355	368	369	347	336	327	373	360
SE Edinburgh & Lothian	1,415	1,372	1,073	1,127	1,415	1,372	1,073	1,127	876	916	888	481	248	246	202	620	615	474	481	248	246	202	2,174	2,213	2,123	2,089	2,035	1,987	1,547	1,608	1,124	1,162	1,089
SE Fife	620	798	772	613	620	798	772	613	584	582	648	154	81	85	103	135	150	203	154	81	85	103	1,214	703	781	767	754	948	975	767	665	667	750
SE Forth Valley ^R2	344	266	285	303	344	266	285	303	303 ^R2	341	346	169	209	218	197	264	191	202	169	209 ^R2	218	197	714	675	686	646	608	457	487	472	512	558 ^R3	543
SE Glasgow ^3,4	899	883	840	813	899	883	840	813	756	767	743	700	647	616	602	691	709	753	700	647	616	602	2,137	2,135	2,105	1,620	1,590	1,592	1,593	1,513	1,403	1,383	1,345
SE Grampian	242	205	196	195	242	205	196	195	167	155	143	121	128	118	80	173	171	136	121	128	118	80	729	432	405	379	415	376	332	315	295	274	223
SE Lanarkshire ^3,4	2,114	1,842	1,812	1,823	2,114	1,842	1,812	1,823	1,834	1,569	1,508	874	790	685	636	936	778	873	874	790	685	636	3,785	3,632	3,419	3,504	3,050	2,620	2,686	2,697	2,624	2,254	2,144
SE Renfrewshire	148	331	320	322	148	331	320	322	334	906	918	237	259	250	277	287	257	253	237	259	250	277	591	488	468	527	434	587	573	559	593	1,157	1,195
SE Tayside ^R1	489	496	385	342	489	496	385 ^R1	342 ^R1	306 ^R1	297	232	288	289	276	257	288	331	296 ^R1	288 ^R1	289 ^R1	276	257	806	791	792	791	777	827	681	630	595	573	489
Highlands & Islands Enterprise
Argyll & The Islands Enterprise	9	11	11	11	9	11	11	11	11	8	8	26	26	23	23	30	27	27	26	26	23	23	48	49	48	41	38	38	38	37	37	31	31
Caithness & Sutherland Enterprise	63	63	63	63	63	63	63	63	63	82	81	55	55	40	40	55	55	55	55	55	40	40	118	118	118	118	118	118	118	118	118	122	121
Inverness & Nairn Enterprise	62	62	62	62	62	62	62	62	62	87	87	181	181	58	43	181	181	181	181	181	58	43	242	242	242	242	242	242	242	242	242	146	130
Lochaber Limited	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	30	30	25	25	19	19	25	25	25	25	25	19	19	66	66	66	66	66	66	66	66	66	49	49
Moray, Badenoch & Strathspey Enterprise	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	48	20 ^R3	20	11	17	44	43	11	11	11	11	17	44 ^R3	43	71	67	67	65	24	24	24	24	64	64 ^R3	63
Orkney Enterprise	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	9	14	19	10	9	13	11	25	14	19	10	9	28	26	25	25	25	23	38	26	32	22	18
Ross & Cromarty Enterprise	128	128	128	128	128	128	128	128	128	730	717	225	225	99	101	225	225	225	225	225	99	101	352	352	352	352	352	352	352	352	352	829	819
Shetland Enterprise	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	2	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2
Skye & Lochalsh Enterprise	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11
Western Isles Enterprise	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	10	10	10	10	11	12	10	10	10	10	10	9	15	15	16	13	13	11	11	11	11	11
Scotland	7,858	7,787	7,237	7,148	7,858	7,787	7,237 ^R1	7,148 ^R1	6,825 ^R1,2	7,767 ^R3	7,741	4,086	3,692	3,282	3,107	4,612	4,425	4,371 ^R1	4,086 ^R1	3,692 ^R1,2	3282 ^R3	3,107	15,400	14,094	13,721	13,101	12,470	12,212	11,608 ^R1	11,233 ^R1	10,517 ^R1,2	11,049 ^R3	10,847

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding
2. See Annex Table D for details of council participation in different years
3. The 'Northern Corridor' (part of the North Lanarkshire Council area) was included in SE Dunbartonshire until 1995, after which it was transferred to SE Lanarkshire.
4. Rutherglen and Cambuslang were included in the SE Glasgow area until 1995, after which they were transferred to SE Lanarkshire.
R1. Revised to correct 2 Dundee City sites included in error in 1999, 2000 and 2001
R2. Revised to remove a number of Falkirk sites included in error in 2001.
R3. Revised to include late 2002 data

Summary Changes in the area of derelict and urban vacant land recorded in Scotland 2003.

2.15 Table 5 shows a summary of the changes in the area of derelict and urban vacant land recorded in Scotland in 2003. Overall, there were 489 hectares of new sites added to the survey. 579 hectares of land were brought back into use, 160 were removed for definitional reasons and 114 hectares of land were removed due to naturalisation.

Table 5: Summary changes in the area of derelict and urban vacant land recorded in Scotland (hectares): 2003 ¹

	2003
New sites added to survey ²	489
Land removed and brought back into use	579
Land removed for definitional reasons	160
Land removed due to naturalisation	114
Reclaimed to vacant pending new use	19
Recorded total amount of vacant and derelict land	10,847

1. See Annex Table D for details of council participation in 2003.
2. Sites that increase in size are not recorded separately in the survey, consequently the total amount of derelict and urban vacant sites recorded in a particular year may be greater than that expected from the changes recorded since the previous year. This year, we estimate about 160 hectares have been added to the survey through sites increasing in size.

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