Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2018

11. Derelict and Urban Vacant Land: Previous Uses and Other Characteristics

11.1 This section focuses on previous uses of derelict and urban vacant land before it fell out of use. Information is also provided on how long derelict and urban vacant land has lain out of use and how developable that land is.

11.2 In general former agricultural land is only included if it is characterised by specific unsightliness or neglect. However, in some instances former agricultural land is released for development and is then classed as vacant if either the land is prepared for development or development has started on the land.

Table 13 - Previous uses of Derelict and Urban Vacant Land¹

Previous Use	Derelict Land			Urban Vacant Land			Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land
	Area (ha)	% of Derelict Land (by Area)4	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	% of Urban Vacant Land (by Area)4	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	% of Total V&D Land (by Area)4	No. of Sites
Agriculture	177	2	118	248	15	113	426	4	231
Business Class	4	*	6	5	*	8	9	*	14
Community & Health	591	7	133	82	5	67	673	6	200
Defence	1,236	14	37	34	2	22	1,270	12	59
Education	143	2	97	199	12	138	343	3	235
Forestry/Woodland	22	*	12	15	1	6	37	*	18
Green/Environmental	1	*	1	-	-	-	1	*	1
Manufacturing	1,871	21	286	266	16	115	2,137	20	401
Mineral Activity	3,064	35	233	16	1	15	3,080	29	248
Nature Conservation	8	*	1	-	-	-	8	*	1
Offices	7	*	16	14	1	20	21	*	36
Other General Industry2	470	5	140	123	7	102	593	6	242
Passive Open Space	25	*	15	53	3	41	78	1	56
Prepared Ground	32	*	14	82	5	30	114	1	44
Recreation & Leisure3	107	1	75	62	4	64	169	2	139
Residential	142	2	213	279	16	359	422	4	572
Retailing	14	*	44	37	2	54	51	*	98
Storage	163	2	75	52	3	49	214	2	124
Transport	363	4	126	66	4	70	429	4	196
Utility Services	154	2	35	5	*	11	159	2	46
Wholesale Distribution	16	*	11	19	1	10	35	*	21
Other	149	2	78	51	3	55	200	2	133
Total of categorised sites	8,760	100	1,766	1,710	100	1,349	10,470	100	3,115
Unknown4	285		163	282		270	567		433
Total	9,044		1,929	1,992		1,619	11,037		3,548

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.

11.3 In 2018 the previous use was unknown for 567 hectares - 285 hectares (3%) of derelict land and 282 hectares (14%) of urban vacant land. Where previous use is known, 35% of derelict land had previously been used for mineral activity (3,064 hectares), 21% for manufacturing (1,871 hectares) and 14% for defence (1,236 hectares). For urban vacant land, where previous use is known, the largest areas had former residential uses (16%, 279 hectares) or manufacturing uses (16%, 266 hectares) (Table 13).

11.4 Where the time a site has lain unused was known, 33% (1,621 hectares) of urban vacant or derelict land within settlements and 36% (2,006 hectares) within the countryside had been unused since before 1991 (Table 14 and Table 15). Across Scotland 3,627 hectares of urban vacant and derelict land has been unused for at least 25 years. There is considerable variation at council level for how long land has been unused.

Table 14 - Sites in Settlements - date first identified as derelict/urban vacant land^1,2,3

Local Authority	Pre-19914		1991-20004		2001-20054		2006-20104		2011-20154		2016-20184		Unknown4	Total
	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	Area (ha)
Aberdeen City	4	13	2	6	3	10	2	6	10	31	11	34	9	42
Aberdeenshire	-	-	4	11	3	8	7	20	7	20	14	41	30	65
Angus	5	8	9	14	31	48	11	16	8	12	1	1	5	71
Argyll and Bute5	7	44	*	2	-	-	4	24	4	28	*	2	13	28
Clackmannanshire	3	14	-	-	6	27	1	5	8	40	3	15	-	21
Dumfries and Galloway	32	57	2	3	9	17	11	19	2	4	-	-	40	96
Dundee City	35	19	38	21	27	15	33	18	27	15	22	12	3	184
East Ayrshire	51	50	22	22	9	9	11	11	8	8	1	1	28	130
East Dunbartonshire	20	49	8	20	2	4	-	-	11	27	-	-	-	40
East Lothian	1	5	1	3	*	2	6	24	16	65	-	-	7	32
East Renfrewshire	8	16	16	33	16	32	2	3	7	14	1	2	-	50
City of Edinburgh	11	10	19	17	5	4	46	41	16	15	16	14	50	163
Falkirk	34	17	8	4	92	47	14	7	40	20	9	4	23	220
Fife	90	26	96	28	88	26	45	13	22	6	-	-	8	348
Glasgow City	413	43	235	24	86	9	155	16	62	6	19	2	-	969
Highland6	173	78	27	12	15	7	4	2	3	2	-	-	17	240
Inverclyde	17	11	23	15	10	6	23	15	68	44	13	8	*	155
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park5	1	42	-	-	1	58	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3
Midlothian	29	73	3	7	4	9	*	1	1	3	3	7	-	40
Moray	-	-	-	-	8	53	-	-	6	40	1	7	-	16
Na h-Eileanan Siar	-	-	2	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	8
North Ayrshire	187	37	137	27	81	16	82	16	5	1	13	3	5	510
North Lanarkshire	198	21	383	41	26	3	201	21	62	7	75	8	3	949
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross5	2	6	2	7	7	23	12	39	8	25	-	-	3	33
Renfrewshire	43	29	25	17	22	15	54	36	3	2	1	1	-	148
Scottish Borders	4	30	2	19	-	-	2	20	4	31	-	-	41	53
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	*	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
South Ayrshire	56	62	15	16	3	4	12	14	*	*	4	4	21	113
South Lanarkshire	70	38	15	8	12	7	29	16	38	21	20	11	44	228
Stirling5	1	3	4	17	1	4	11	50	3	12	3	14	11	33
West Dunbartonshire5	77	46	36	21	26	15	7	4	13	8	8	5	1	168
West Lothian	48	72	-	-	13	19	2	3	1	2	3	4	37	104
Scotland	1,621	33	1,136	23	606	12	785	16	465	10	241	5	406	5,262

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. Figures are for total vacant land in settlements of 2,000 and over and derelict land in all settlements. Settlements as defined by local authorities in their latest council approved local plans (Annex Section A.5).

3. See Annex D for details of council participation in different years.

4. Unknown values are excluded from the calculation of percentage values.

5. From 2011 Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park took responsibility for surveying vacant and derelict land within the park boundaries. These sites are no longer recorded in Argyll and Bute, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire local authority boundaries, and are separately identifiable as Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park from 2011. Prior to 2011 these sites were classified within the relevant local authority boundary.

6. Highland has not updated their survey since 2015 so their 2016-2018 figures have been carried over from 2015.

Table 15 - Sites in the countryside - date first identified as derelict or urban vacant land^1,2,3

Local Authority	Pre-19914		1991-20004		2001-20054		2006-20104		2011-20154		2016-20184		Unknown4	Total
	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	Area (ha)
Aberdeen City	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Aberdeenshire	13	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*	13
Angus	181	86	3	1	-	-	18	8	9	4	-	-	1	211
Argyll and Bute5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	29	29
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	24	67	12	33	-	36
Dumfries and Galloway	223	100	-	-	-	-	*	*	-	-	-	-	*	224
Dundee City	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Ayrshire	122	7	1	*	-	-	-	-	1,507	92	-	-	50	1,680
East Dunbartonshire	9	45	1	3	-	-	-	-	10	52	-	-	9	28
East Lothian	11	21	16	31	1	2	24	46	-	-	-	-	5	56
East Renfrewshire	-	-	2	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
City of Edinburgh	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2
Falkirk	28	64	3	7	7	16	6	13	*	1	-	-	12	57
Fife	129	36	73	20	119	33	40	11	1	*	-	-	17	378
Glasgow City	23	65	13	35	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	36
Highland6	725	67	82	8	256	24	23	2	-	-	-	-	16	1,102
Inverclyde	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park5	-	-	-	-	4	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
Midlothian	44	59	27	36	-	-	2	3	1	1	*	*	3	78
Moray	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Na h-Eileanan Siar	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
North Ayrshire	28	4	38	5	635	83	67	9	-	-	-	-	-	768
North Lanarkshire	92	24	19	5	17	4	9	2	152	40	95	25	1	385
Orkney Islands	32	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	32
Perth and Kinross5	1	10	-	-	3	37	2	24	2	30	-	-	2	9
Renfrewshire	-	-	106	98	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	-	108
Scottish Borders	6	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	15
Shetland Islands	3	100	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	6
South Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	88	1	12	2	6
South Lanarkshire	85	63	9	7	35	26	5	4	-	-	-	-	27	161
Stirling5	109	98	2	2	-	-	*	*	-	-	-	-	1	112
West Dunbartonshire5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*	100	-	*
West Lothian	142	61	35	15	54	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	238
Scotland	2,006	36%	429	8%	1,130	20	195	3%	1,710	31%	108	2%	196	5,775

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. Figures are for derelict land in the countryside.

3. See Annex D for details of council participation in different years.

4. Unknown values are excluded from the calculation of percentage values.

5. From 2011 Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park took responsibility for surveying vacant and derelict land within the park boundaries. These sites are no longer recorded in Argyll and Bute, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire local authority boundaries, and are separately identifiable as Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park from 2011. Prior to 2011, these sites were classified within the relevant local authority boundary.

6. Highland has not updated their survey since 2015 so their 206-2018 figures have been carried over from 2015.

11.5 Development potential of derelict and urban vacant land is reported by Local Authorities, based on their expectation of when land is likely to be developed. Within Scotland, 22% of all derelict land (with known development potential) is estimated to be developable in the short term, as is 45% of urban vacant land with known development potential. The higher proportion of urban vacant land estimated to be developed in the short term is not surprising given derelict land (by definition) requires some form of rehabilitation before new development can commence. Overall, 27% of all derelict and urban vacant land within Scotland (with known development potential) has been estimated to be developable in the short term. Across Scotland, 26% of derelict land and 2% of urban vacant land is seen by local authorities as being uneconomic to develop and/or is viewed as suitable to reclaim for a ‘soft’ end use (i.e. non-built use) (Table 16).

Table 16 - Development potential of Derelict and Urban Vacant Land¹

Development Potential	Derelict Land			Urban Vacant Land			Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land
	Area (ha)	% of Derelict Land (by Area)4	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	% of Urban Vacant Land (by Area)4	No. of Sites	Area (ha)	% of Total Land (by Area)4	No. of Sites
Developable - Short Term2	1,845	22	492	844	45	625	2,688	27	1,117
Developable - Medium Term3	2,510	31	488	705	37	571	3,215	32	1,059
Developable - Undetermined	1,733	21	556	286	15	283	2,019	20	839
Uneconomic to Develop/Reclamation for 'Soft' End Use	2,112	26	189	46	2	51	2,158	21	240
Total for sites with known development potential	8,200	100%	1,725	1,881	100%	1,530	10,081	100%	3,255
Unknown4	844	-	204	112	-	89	955	-	293
Total	9,044	-	1,929	1,992	-	1,619	11,037	-	3,548

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. Expectation of development within five years.

3. Expectation of development between five to ten years.

4. Unknown values are excluded from the calculation of percentage values.

11.6 In 2018, a majority of all derelict and urban vacant land with known ownership had a single private owner, 72% (7,269 hectares). 22% (2,278 hectares) of derelict and urban vacant land with known ownership had a single public owner. The remaining 6% is split with 4% (414 hectares) mixed public and private ownership, 1% (115 hectares) multiple private owners and 1% (78 hectares) multiple public owners. Of the 11,037 hectares of derelict and urban vacant land recorded in 2018, 8% (883 hectares) has ownership unknown to the local authority (Table 17).

Table 17 - Ownership of Derelict and Urban Vacant Land¹

Ownership	Derelict Land			Urban Vacant Land			Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land
	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 Land (by Area)2	No. of Sites
Single Owner: Public	1,452	17	421	826	47	711	2,278	22	1,132
Single Owner: Private	6,509	78	1,068	759	43	623	7,269	72	1,691
Multiple Owners: Public	48	1	25	30	2	20	78	1	45
Multiple Owners: Private	74	1	30	41	2	16	115	1	46
Mixed Owners	305	4	80	108	6	57	414	4	137
Total where ownership known	8,389	100	1,624	1,765	100	1,427	10,154	100	3,051
Single Owner: Unknown2	655	-	305	228	-	192	883	-	497
Total	9,044	-	1,929	1,992	-	1,619	11,037	-	3,548

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. Unknown values are excluded from the calculation of percentage values.