Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2004

7 Location of derelict land

7.1 The survey covers derelict sites in both urban and rural areas. The distribution of derelict sites among urban and rural local authority areas is shown in Table 12. In Scotland as a whole, over half the recorded area of derelict land is in urban areas (52 per cent). For the purpose of this survey the urban area is defined as GRO(S) settlements with a population of 2,000 or more, or within one kilometre of the edge of such settlements, the remaining area is defined as rural. Generally, local authorities define sites according to this definition however, some flexibility is currently permitted, especially in smaller rural authorities, where settlements with a population of under 2,000 may be defined as urban within the local plan.

Table 12: Location of derelict sites by local authority area, 2004 ^{1, 2}

Local Authority	Urban				Rural				All Derelict Land
Local Authority	Area (ha)	% Sites in Urban Area (by Area) ³	No. of Sites	% of Scottish Urban Sites (by Area) ⁴	Area (ha)	% Sites in Rural Area (by Area) ³	No. of Sites	% of Scottish Rural Sites (by Area) ⁵	Area (ha)	No. of Sites
Aberdeen City	66	100	19	2	-	-	-	-	66	19
Aberdeenshire	5	7	9	*	72	93	12	2	77	21
Angus	31	26	17	1	90	74	17	2	121	34
Argyll & Bute	8	56	11	*	6	44	6	*	14	17
Clackmannanshire	29	63	12	1	17	37	2	*	46	14
Dumfries & Galloway	26	9	21	1	281	91	16	8	307	37
Dundee City	44	100	21	1	-	-	-	-	44	21
East Ayrshire	39	14	27	1	236	86	41	6	275	68
East Dunbartonshire	48	89	17	1	6	11	2	*	54	19
East Lothian	31	39	24	1	48	61	16	1	79	40
East Renfrewshire	43	100	30	1	-	-	-	-	43	30
Edinburgh, City of	41	52	15	1	38	48	5	1	79	20
Eilean Siar	1	100	4	*	-	-	-	-	1	4
Falkirk	108	94	34	3	7	6	4	*	116	38
Fife	259	38	79	7	429	62	23	12	687	102
Glasgow City	733	100	283	19	-	-	-	-	733	283
Highland	141	15	59	4	794	85	149	22	934	208
Inverclyde	64	100	39	2	-	-	-	-	64	39
Midlothian	191	67	58	5	93	33	32	3	284	90
Moray	7	100	6	*	-	-	-	-	7	6
North Ayrshire	268	77	82	7	78	23	32	2	347	114
North Lanarkshire	842	89	155	21	103	11	54	3	945	209
Orkney Islands	4	44	3	*	5	56	7	*	9	10
Perth & Kinross	13	21	11	*	49	79	8	1	62	19
Renfrewshire	82	10	45	2	738	90	3	20	820	48
Scottish Borders	21	54	31	1	19	46	7	1	40	38
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	123	100	32	3	-	-	-	-	123	32
South Lanarkshire	222	49	88	6	229	51	39	6	451	127
Stirling	123	75	15	3	42	25	14	1	164	29
West Dunbartonshire	182	100	84	5	-	-	-	-	182	84
West Lothian	151	33	17	4	311	67	31	8	462	48
Scotland	3,947	52	1,348	*100*	3,691	48	520	*100*	7,638	1,868

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding
2. 2003 data have been used for the following council areas: Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Scottish Borders and South Ayrshire.
3. As a percentage of the total amount of derelict land within the Local Authority
4. As a percentage of the total amount of derelict land that is in an urban area in Scotland
5. As a percentage of the total amount of derelict land that is in a rural area in Scotland

7.2 The local authorities with the largest areas of derelict urban land recorded in the 2004 survey were North Lanarkshire (842 hectares) and Glasgow City (733 hectares) together comprising 40 per cent of urban derelict land. The local authorities with the largest areas of derelict rural land were Highland (794 hectares) and Renfrewshire (738 hectares) together comprising 42 per cent of rural derelict land. The average size of derelict urban sites is 2.9 hectares, compared to an average size of 7.1 hectares for derelict rural sites.

Table 13: Derelict sites by location and size of sites, 2004 ^{1, 2}

Location	Size of Derelict Site												Average size of site (ha)
	No. of Sites <= 0.5 ha		No. of Sites >0.5 <= 1.0ha		No. of Sites >1.0 <= 5.0ha		No. of Sites >5.0 <= 10.0ha		No. of Sites >10.0 ha		Total
	No. of Sites	% of Sites	No. of Sites	% of Sites	No. of Sites	% of Sites	No. of Sites	% of Sites	No. of Sites	% of Sites	No. of Sites	% of Sites
Urban	510	71	234	76	423	74	104	69	77	63	1,348	72	2.9
Rural	209	29	72	24	146	26	47	31	46	37	520	28	7.1
Total	719	*100*	306	*100*	569	*100*	151	*100*	123	*100*	1,868	*100*	4.1

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding
2. 2003 data have been used for the following council areas: Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Scottish Borders and South Ayrshire.

7.3 Table 13 shows the distribution of derelict sites in relation to size. It shows that over 70 per cent of small sites (under 5 hectares) are located in urban areas, compared with 63 per cent of sites over 10 hectares.

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