Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2011

8 Derelict and Urban Vacant Land: The Reuse and Fall Out of Derelict and Urban Vacant Land

8.1 Table 16 shows the area and number of new distinct sites, which have been identified as vacant or derelict since the last survey was conducted. There were 209 hectares (119 sites) of newly identified derelict land since the previous survey. Of these, 125 hectares (32 sites) were in North Lanarkshire and 21 hectares (11 sites) were in Fife. There were 92 hectares (109 sites) of newly identified urban vacant land since the previous survey. Of these, 15 hectares (29 sites) were in Glasgow and 12 hectares (10 sites) were in Dundee. Note that these figures relate only to completely new sites identified; sites listed in the previous survey which changed in size are not included in Table 16. This increase accounts for approximately 301 additional hectares of land.

Table 16: New Sites identified since the previous survey by local authority area, 2011^1,2

Local Authority	Derelict Land		Urban Vacant Land		Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land
	Area (ha)	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	No. of Sites
Aberdeen City	1	5	4	4	5	9
Aberdeenshire	*	1	5	2	5	3
Angus	-	-	-	-	-	-
Argyll & Bute4	-	-	-	-	-	-
Clackmannanshire	5	3	1	1	6	4
Dumfries & Galloway	*	3	*	1	1	4
Dundee City	*	1	12	10	12	11
East Ayrshire	2	9	*	1	2	10
East Dunbartonshire	-	-	1	2	1	2
East Lothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Renfrewshire	*	1	-	-	*	1
Edinburgh, City of	1	1	3	3	4	4
Eilean Siar	-	-	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	-	-	2	2	2	2
Fife	21	11	1	3	22	14
Glasgow City	5	17	15	29	21	46
Highland3	1	5	1	6	2	11
Inverclyde	1	2	1	2	2	4
Loch Lomond & the Trossachs4	19	5	8	7	28	12
Midlothian	-	-	2	1	2	1
Moray	-	-	-	-	-	-
North Ayrshire	5	5	11	6	16	11
North Lanarkshire	125	32	9	13	135	45
Orkney Islands	1	1	-	-	1	1
Perth & Kinross4	2	4	-	-	2	4
Renfrewshire	-	-	*	1	*	1
Scottish Borders	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	-	3	2	3	2
South Lanarkshire	10	3	11	12	21	15
Stirling4	*	1	3	1	3	2
West Dunbartonshire4	7	8	-	-	7	8
West Lothian	*	1	-	-	*	1
Scotland	209	119	92	109	301	228

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
2. Sites identified since the previous survey but recorded as falling out of use prior to 2010 are not included in the above table.
3. A partial survey was completed for Highland - See Annex A.11.
4. In 2011 LLTNP took responsibility for surveying vacant and derelict land within the park boundaries. These sites are no longer recorded in Argyll & Bute, Perth & Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire local authority boundaries, and are separately identifiable as LLTNP in 2011. In previous years, these sites were classified within the relevant local authority boundary.

8.2 Tables 17 to 21 relate only to sites (or parts thereof) which were brought back into actual use. Sites removed for definitional reasons or due to naturalisation are not included. 17 sites and 18 hectares of formerly derelict and urban vacant land in 2011 were removed due to naturalisation in the 2011 survey. Details of land removed for definitional reasons can be found in Table D in the Annex.

Table 17: Derelict land reclaimed and Urban Vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey, by local authority area, 2011¹

Local Authority	Derelict Land			Urban Vacant Land			Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land
	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 Land (by Area)	No. of Sites
Aberdeen City	3	2	4	13	9	3	17	5	7
Aberdeenshire	3	2	2	2	1	3	5	2	5
Angus	2	1	1	1	1	2	3	1	3
Argyll & Bute3	-	-	-	1	*	2	1	*	2
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries & Galloway	-	-	-	1	1	1	1	*	1
Dundee City	23	13	3	16	10	16	39	12	19
East Ayrshire	5	3	2	3	2	5	8	2	7
East Dunbartonshire	7	4	1	-	-	-	7	2	1
East Lothian	3	2	1	-	-	-	3	1	1
East Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	1	1	3	3	2	4	4	1	7
Eilean Siar	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	-	-	-	6	4	5	6	2	5
Fife	6	3	8	*	*	1	6	2	9
Glasgow City	23	13	31	29	19	45	52	16	76
Highland2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Inverclyde	1	*	2	3	2	6	3	1	8
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Midlothian	4	2	1	-	-	-	4	1	1
Moray	1	1	1	7	4	5	8	2	6
North Ayrshire	2	1	5	4	2	7	5	2	12
North Lanarkshire	59	33	23	30	19	23	90	27	46
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Perth & Kinross3	1	*	2	2	1	4	3	1	6
Renfrewshire	1	1	1	9	6	5	10	3	6
Scottish Borders	4	2	4	*	*	1	4	1	5
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	1	*	2	1	1	1	2	1	3
South Lanarkshire	18	10	3	25	16	17	43	13	20
Stirling3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
West Dunbartonshire3	12	7	3	-	-	-	12	4	3
West Lothian	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Scotland	180	100	103	156	100	156	336	100	259

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
2. A partial survey was completed for Highland - See Annex A.11.
3. In 2011 LLTNP took responsibility for surveying vacant and derelict land within the park boundaries. These sites are no longer recorded in Argyll & Bute, Perth & Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire local authority boundaries, and are separately identifiable as LLTNP in 2011. In previous years, these sites were classified within the relevant local authority boundary.

8.3 Table 17 shows that a total of 336 hectares (259 sites) were reclaimed or brought back into use since the previous survey, this figure includes vacant sites that were previously derelict and excludes those sites removed for definitional reasons or due to naturalisation. 180 hectares of land reclaimed back into use was derelict, of which 33% was in North Lanarkshire (59 hectares). Of the 156 hectares of urban vacant land brought back into use, 19% (30 hectares) was in North Lanarkshire and 19% (29 hectares) was in Glasgow. The largest individual derelict or urban vacant sites brought back into use in 2011 were Riverside Avenue, Dundee (23 hectares) and Hillfoot Road, Airdrie (21 hectares) both being reused for recreation and leisure.

8.4 The new use of sites, or part of sites, that were reclaimed or brought back into use (excluding sites removed for definitional reasons) are shown in table 18. The most common new use for derelict land was residential development, with 38% (69 hectares) of the land reclaimed for this purpose. The second most common new use was for recreation and leisure development, accounting for 27% and 49 hectares. For urban vacant land, the most common new use was also residential development, with 42% (66 hectares) of the land reused for this purpose, and the second most common new use was nature conservation, with 12% of urban vacant land reused for this purpose (19 hectares).

Table 18: Reclaimed Derelict land and Urban Vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey, by new use, 2011¹

New Use	Derelict Land			Urban Vacant Land			Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land
	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 Land (by Area)	No. of Sites
Agriculture	1	1	1	-	-	-	1	*	1
Business Class	2	1	2	2	1	3	4	1	5
Community & Health	*	*	1	2	1	3	3	1	4
Defence	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Education	*	*	1	2	1	2	2	1	3
Forestry/Woodland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Green/Environmental	1	1	2	*	*	1	1	*	3
Manufacturing	1	1	2	3	2	3	4	1	5
Mineral Activity	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nature Conservation	-	-	-	19	12	3	19	6	3
Non-Community-Based Woodland	-	-	-	2	1	2	2	1	2
Offices	1	*	2	1	1	2	2	1	4
Other General Industry2	7	4	8	5	3	12	11	3	20
Passive Open Space	4	2	5	18	11	10	22	7	15
Recreation & Leisure3	49	27	7	2	1	2	50	15	9
Residential	69	38	40	66	42	72	135	40	112
Retailing	11	6	7	11	7	5	22	7	12
Storage	3	2	2	5	3	10	8	2	12
Transport	8	4	13	5	3	8	13	4	21
Utility Services	-	-	-	1	*	2	1	*	2
Wholesale Distribution	-	-	-	7	4	3	7	2	3
Vacant Pending New Use	3	2	3	2	1	3	5	1	6
Other	20	11	7	4	3	10	24	7	17
Unknown4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	180	100	103	156	100	156	336	100	259

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
2. Excluding Manufacturing.
3. Excluding Passive Open Space.
4. Unknown values are excluded from the calculation of percentages

8.5 Table 19 shows the sources of funding used for bringing derelict and urban vacant land back into use since the previous survey. The most common source of funding was the private sector (44%). Public sector funding accounted for 37% of reclaimed land, and the source of funding was unknown for 4% of reclaimed land. Dundee City had the greatest area brought back into use by public funding (36 hectares), with North Lanarkshire reclaiming the most land with private funding (55 hectares).

8.6 There is a difference between the new use of land removed from the register depending on the source of funding bringing about that use. Recreation & leisure development (31%) is the most common new use for land receiving public/mixed funding, whereas residential development (62%) is the most common new use for privately-funded land.

Table 19: Sources of funding used for Derelict land reclaimed and Urban Vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey, by local authority area, 2011¹

Local Authority	Public sector funding (ha)	Private sector funding (ha)	Mixed funding1 (ha)	Unknown (ha)	None / not applicable (ha)	Total (ha)
Aberdeen City	1	4	10	-	1	17
Aberdeenshire	*	5	*	-	-	5
Angus	-	3	-	-	-	3
Argyll & Bute3	-	-	-	1	-	1
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries & Galloway	-	1	-	-	-	1
Dundee City	36	3	*	-	-	39
East Ayrshire	-	6	1	-	-	8
East Dunbartonshire	-	7	-	-	-	7
East Lothian	-	3	-	-	-	3
East Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	-	3	1	-	-	4
Eilean Siar	-	-	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	-	6	*	-	-	6
Fife	2	4	-	*	-	6
Glasgow City	29	16	5	*	2	52
Highland2	-	-	-	-	-	-
Inverclyde	1	*	-	-	2	3
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs3	-	-	-	-	-	-
Midlothian	-	4	-	-	-	4
Moray	-	-	-	8	-	8
North Ayrshire	2	3	*	-	-	5
North Lanarkshire	30	55	4	-	-	90
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-
Perth & Kinross3	-	-	-	3	-	3
Renfrewshire	-	10	-	-	-	10
Scottish Borders	-	1	-	3	-	4
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	1	1	-	-	2
South Lanarkshire	21	2	*	-	19	43
Stirling3	-	-	-	-	-	-
West Dunbartonshire3	-	11	1	-	-	12
West Lothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
Scotland	123	148	25	15	24	336

1. Mixed public and private sector funding or partnership
2. A partial survey was completed for Highland - See Annex A.11.
3. In 2011 LLTNP took responsibility for surveying vacant and derelict land within the park boundaries. These sites are no longer recorded in Argyll & Bute, Perth & Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire local authority boundaries, and are separately identifiable as LLTNP in 2011. In previous years, these sites were classified within the relevant local authority boundary.

8.7 Table 20 and Chart 7 show the total amount of derelict land reclaimed and urban vacant land reused in each of the past 7 survey years. The amount of derelict land reclaimed has fluctuated between 2005 to 2011, with the lowest amount reclaimed in 2010 (118 hectares). For 2011 there has been an increase to 180 reclaimed hectares but for the lowest number of reclaimed sites (103). On average, 253 hectares of derelict land was reclaimed in each year between 2005 and 2011. The amount of urban vacant land reused gradually increased in the years until 2007, but then decreased to a low in 2010. For 2011 there has been an increase to 156 reclaimed hectares. On average, 235 hectares of vacant land was reused each year between 2005 and 2011.

Table 20: Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land reclaimed (Hectares), 2005-2011^1,2,3

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Derelict Land (ha)	458	252	324	269	169	118	180
Total Sites	195	202	193	164	138	117	103
Urban Vacant Land (ha)	287	305	314	294	155	133	156
Total Sites	308	314	304	273	191	157	156
Total Area Reclaimed (Derelict & Urban Vacant)	745	557	638	563	324	251	336
Total Sites	503	516	497	437	329	274	259

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
2. See Annex Table E for details of council participation in different years.
3. During 2011, historical data on the reuse of land from the years 2005-2010 were revised to correct any revisions to the data highlighted in the 2011 survey returns. Further information on this process is available in Annex A.4

Chart 7: Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land Reclaimed, 2005-2011

8.8 Table 21 shows the amount of formerly derelict and urban vacant land that has been reclaimed or reused with the involvement of the Scottish Government's Vacant and Derelict Land Fund (VDLF). The 3 councils in receipt of this fund since the 2004/05 financial year were Dundee City, Glasgow City and North Lanarkshire. South Lanarkshire joined the scheme in 2006/07, and Highland joined in 2008/09. To date, a total of 139 hectares of formerly derelict and urban vacant land has been removed from the survey with the VDLF making either a partial or full contribution. Dundee City have so far reused 80 hectares and Glasgow City have reused 75 hectares (across 41 and 61 sites respectively) of formerly derelict and urban vacant land using the fund. Any involvement the VDLF has had with existing sites in the 2011 SVDLS (i.e. those not yet removed from the survey) is not recorded in table 21, but will appear when the sites are bought back into use in the future.

Table 21: Sites where the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund (VDLF) was a funding source used to reclaim Derelict land and bring Urban Vacant land back into use, 2005-2011^1,2,3

Local Authorities receiving Vacant and Derelict Land Funds	Derelict Land		Urban Vacant Land		Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land
	Area (ha)	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	No. of Sites
Dundee City	33	7	46	34	80	41
Glasgow City	44	41	31	20	75	61
Highland	*	1	9	3	10	4
North Lanarkshire	50	18	3	6	53	24
South Lanarkshire	5	3	2	6	7	9
TOTAL	133	70	91	69	224	139

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
2. The Scottish Government Vacant and Derelict Land Fund contributed either partially or fully to the reclamation or reuse of the 139 sites shown in the above table. This includes money used to prepare the land for development, e.g. decontamination.
3. Any involvement the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund has had with existing sites in the 2011 Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (those not yet removed from the survey) is not recorded in the above table.

8.9 Table 22, providing some further proximity analysis, has not been included in this bulletin. This is due to technical difficulties in producing the analysis. It is hoped that further investigations of this data will enable it to be published at a later date.

8.10 Table 23 shows an estimate of the number of properties (both residential and communal) that are situated within 500m of a site reclaimed using the VDLF (either solely or in combination with other funds), split by deprivation level. Overall, 55% of the 102,869 properties within 500m of land reclaimed using the VDLF were situated within Scotland's 15% most deprived datazones (56,611 properties). The remaining 45% (46,258 properties) were located outwith the 15% most deprived datazones. At council level, 31,764 or 70% of the properties in close proximity to reclaimed land in Glasgow City were in the 15% most deprived datazones, compared to 46% (14,458 properties) for Dundee City, 42% (5,659 properties) for North Lanarkshire, 38% (4,064 properties) for South Lanarkshire and 31% (666 properties) for Highland.

Table 23: Estimate of the number of properties within 500m of at least 1 site reclaimed using the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund (VDLF), split by deprivation, 2005-2011^1,2,3

Local Authority	Properties within 500m of land reclaimed using VDLF -
	Within 15% Most Deprived Datazones5	Outwith 15% most Deprived Datazones5	Total	Percent of Properties near remediated land within 15% most deprived datazones
Dundee City4	14,458	16,661	31,119	46
Glasgow City5	31,764	13,664	45,428	70
Highland	666	1,454	2,120	31
North Lanarkshire	5,659	7,920	13,579	42
South Lanarkshire6	4,064	6,559	10,623	38
Total	56,611	46,258	102,869	55

1. Properties based on Ordnance Survey 2009 Address Point Data. See Annex Note A.9 for further information.
2. Any involvement the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund has had with existing sites in the 2011 Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (those not yet removed from the survey) is not recorded in the table above.
3. Datazone analysis uses the results of the SIMD 2009 Version 2 General Report, revised in July 2010.
4. A further estimated 12 properties within Angus are located within 500m of a reclaimed site within Dundee City Boundaries.
5. An estimated 179 properties within Glasgow City are located within 500m of a reclaimed site within the South Lanarkshire Boundary.
6. An estimated 324 properties within South Lanarkshire are located within 500m of a reclaimed site within Glasgow City Boundaries.