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3 Derelict land: People's proximity to derelict land

3.1 This section focuses exclusively on derelict land and people's proximity to such sites throughout Scotland. In 2006 there were 1,799 derelict sites recorded in the SVDLS.

3.2 Table 6 shows the percentage of local authority population that is estimated to live within various distances of derelict land in 2006. This is a measure of people's proximity to derelict land, not their exposure.

3.3 26.6% of Scotland's population lives within 500m of derelict land. A further 24.9% live within the '500m to less than a 1,000m' bracket. The remaining 48.5% live at least 1,000m (1km) from derelict land.

3.4 People's proximity to derelict land varies significantly at the council level. For example, 57.3% of Glasgow City's population lives within 500m of a derelict site, whereas the comparative figure for Edinburgh is only 8.6%. Midlothian and West Dunbartonshire also have a majority of their population living within 500m of a derelict site. Other councils with an above average proportion of their population living close to derelict land include North Lanarkshire (49.1%), Scottish Borders (42.5%) and Fife (35.1%). The population of the Shetland Islands is the least likely to be living close to derelict land with only 1.1 per cent within 500m of a derelict site. Map 2 on page 13 shows the percentage of each Local Authority's population that lives within 500m of derelict land.

Table 6: Percentage of local authority population living within various distances of Derelict Land, 2006 ^1,2,3

1. Population figures used for each local authority are the latest mid-year estimates published by GROS (in this case 2005).
2. 2005 data has been used for the South Ayrshire council area.
3. Further information on how this data was calculated is available in Annex Section A.8.

Map 2

3.5 The map on page 13 shows the percentage of each local authority's population that lives within 500m of derelict land in 2006 (for all of Scotland). It uses the results from Table 6.

3.6 Table 7 shows the percentage of local authority population that lives within 500m of derelict land for the years 2004 to 2006. It also shows this proximity information for sites that have been derelict prior to 1991.

3.7 Between 2004 and 2006, the percentage of Scotland's population that lives within 500m of a derelict site decreased slightly from 27.1% in 2004 to 26.6% by 2006. There have been some larger changes at the council level. Midlothian, Dundee City and Renfrewshire have all seen significant falls in the proportion of their population living within 500m of derelict land during the past 2 years (down by 8.8%, 7.8% and 7.4% respectively). At the other end of the scale, Perth and Kinross and Fife have seen an increase in the proportion of their population living within 500m of derelict land (up 8.2% and 8.1% respectively).

3.8 Between 2004 and 2006, the percentage of Scotland's population that lives within 500m of land derelict prior to 1991 decreased from 16.2% to 14.4%. Those councils with the highest proportion of population living within 500m of land derelict prior to 1991 were Glasgow City (43.2%), Midlothian (41.6%), West Dunbartonshire (31.4%) and North Lanarkshire (25.2%).

Table 7: Percentage of local authority population living within 500m of derelict land, 2004-2006
Percentage of local authority population living within 500m of land derelict prior to 1991, 2004-2006

1. Population figures used for each local authority are the latest mid-year estimates published by GROS (in this case 2005).
2. See Annex Table E for details of council participation in different years.
3. Further information on how this data was calculated is available in Annex Section A.8.

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