Scottish Vacant And Derelict Land Survey 2021

The Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (SVDLS) is a data collection undertaken to establish the extent and state of vacant and derelict land in Scotland.


9. Derelict and Urban Vacant Land: Location relative to deprivation

9.1 This section focuses on derelict and urban vacant land and where it is situated relative to the 15% most deprived data zones in Scotland (as identified by the ‘Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation’ (SIMD). The SIMD identifies small area concentrations of multiple deprivation across all of Scotland. It contains 33 indicators across seven domains: Income, Employment, Health, Education, Skills and Training, Geographic Access to Services, Crime and Housing. SIMD 2020 was used for 2021, but earlier releases of SIMD have been used for earlier years. Particular care should be taken when interpreting the data for 2020 as eight authorities were unable to complete a survey return mainly due to COVID-19 Pandemic related restrictions and results have been rolled over from 2019. This will affect the figures for each of these authorities, the Scotland total and any comparison with other years. More detailed information on this is presented in section 4 of the publication and in the notes accompanying tables, chart and annexes.

9.2 Over the years 2015 to 2019 there was a gradual decline in the area of derelict and urban vacant land within the 15% most deprived data zones. There was a marked decrease in 2020 and in 2021 there were 1,049 hectares in the most deprived data zones, 14% of all derelict and urban vacant land (Table 11).

9.3 Nearly half (49%) of all derelict and urban vacant land located within the 15% most deprived data zones is in Glasgow City. Throughout the period 2015-2021 Glasgow City had the largest amount of derelict and urban vacant land located within the 15% most deprived data zones.

9.4 As data zones get progressively less deprived, the proportion of their population that lives within 500 metres of a derelict site becomes smaller (Chart 3).

9.5 Analysis for 2021 used 2020 mid-year population estimates and SIMD 2020 was used for the years 2020 and 2021. Comparisons earlier years should be made with caution as previous years based on earlier versions of the SIMD.

Table 11 - Derelict and Urban Vacant Land located within the 15% most deprived data zones, 2015-2021 [Note 5] [Note 6] [Note 23] [Note 24]
Percentage of Planning Authority Datazones within Scotland's 15 Per Cent most deprived SIMD 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Planning Authority Area of Vacant & Derelict Land Sites Area of Vacant & Derelict Land Sites Area of Vacant & Derelict Land Sites Area of Vacant & Derelict Land Sites Area of Vacant & Derelict Land Sites Area of Vacant & Derelict Land Sites Area of Vacant & Derelict Land Sites
Aberdeen City 5 4 3 2 2 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 5 4
Aberdeenshire 1 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 4 6 4 6
Angus 4 - - - - - - - - - - 1 1 1 1
Argyll and Bute 9 3 7 2 6 2 5 2 5 2 5 3 6 2 6
Clackmannanshire 7 3 5 4 5 3 4 3 4 3 4 4 6 4 6
Dumfries and Galloway 31 - - - - - - - - - - 8 1 8 1
Dundee City 22 77 95 70 85 60 80 61 79 60 79 80 86 80 86
East Ayrshire 3 309 27 309 27 308 27 306 20 299 18 26 12 13 11
East Dunbartonshire 2 - - - - - - - - - - 1 1 1 1
East Lothian 3 - - - - - - - - - - 1 2 1 2
East Renfrewshire 8 3 5 3 5 3 5 2 4 2 3 1 1 1 1
City of Edinburgh 18 18 8 16 8 16 8 11 5 9 6 5 5 1 2
Falkirk 11 16 6 14 6 18 6 18 7 17 5 5 4 4 3
Fife 15 59 34 51 31 56 33 55 31 53 31 54 37 51 32
Glasgow City 39 705 535 681 515 659 502 616 476 586 454 555 436 516 414
Highland 7 4 11 4 11 4 11 4 11 4 11 5 14 2 7
Inverclyde 37 46 65 43 62 40 55 44 57 41 53 39 51 37 49
Midlothian 4 4 3 4 2 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 - -
Moray 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Na h-Eileanan Siar * - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
North Ayrshire 27 123 54 118 53 119 53 114 47 111 45 89 42 90 44
North Lanarkshire 24 89 109 86 105 104 106 98 107 101 110 50 79 52 78
Orkney Islands * - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Perth and Kinross 4 - - * 1 * 1 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2
Renfrewshire 22 63 64 63 64 45 48 42 42 36 38 37 38 36 38
Scottish Borders 5 6 8 6 8 5 7 3 5 3 5 4 5 4 5
Shetland Islands * - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
South Ayrshire 13 3 5 3 5 3 6 4 7 5 12 6 10 6 10
South Lanarkshire 14 83 65 73 61 73 59 68 53 71 56 75 59 73 56
Stirling 7 12 11 15 11 14 11 14 10 14 9 7 6 6 6
West Dunbartonshire 31 57 28 49 24 50 23 52 22 51 22 59 26 53 28
West Lothian 8 3 2 3 2 3 2 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1
Scotland 1,690 1,154 1,619 1,103 1,591 1,060 1,525 1,003 1,477 977 1,123 942 1,049 901

General notes - at sections 3 and 4 apply.

Specific note 5 - previous SVDLS bulletins have used different base years for percentage change and so these percentages should not be compared with those in previous bulletins.

Specific note 6 - Different releases of SIMD are used. In 2015, SIMD 2012 was used, for 2016 to 2019 SIMD 2016 was used and in 2021 SIMD 2020 has been used and direct comparison should not be made to years where a different release of SIMD has been used.

Specific note 23 - For the 2020 survey eight authorities (Aberdeen City, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, Highland, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, Ornkey Islands, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian) were unable to complete a survey mainly due to COVID-19 Pandemic related restrictions but also staffing issues and results have been rolled over from 2019. These return rates should be borne in mind when using and interpreting the figures for these authorities in the year 2020, when interpreting the Scotland total in 2020 and when comparing the 2020 figures to other years.

Specific note 24 - six authorities reported various impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on their survey return in 2021. More details are provided at sections 3 and 4. These impacts should be borne in mind when using and interpreting the figures for these authorities in the year 2021, when comparing the 2021 figure to other years and when interpreting the Scotland total for 2021.

Chart 2 - Percentage of Derelict and Urban Vacant Land within the 15% most deprived data zones, 2021 [Note 20] [Note 24]
A bar chart showing that 87 percent of the derelict and urban vacant land within the most deprived data zones is located within seven local authorities. The largest percentage by far is Glasgow City in which 49 percent of the derelict and urban vacant land within the most deprived data zones is located.

General notes - at sections 3 and 4 apply.

Specific note 20 - Glasgow conducted a partial survey in 2021 and some sites were recorded as re-used but no new sites were added due to difficulty with resource for the survey. Dundee City and West Lothian have not updated their survey since 2019 so no new data is available on new site in 2021. Details of survey return rates back to 2015 are shown at Annex D. Specific note 24 - some authorities reported various impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on their survey return in 2021. More details are provided at sections 3 and 4. These impacts should be borne in mind when using and interpreting the figures for these authorities in the year 2021, when comparing the 2021 figure to other years and when interpreting the Scotland total for 2021.

Contact

Email: planstats@gov.uk

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