Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2018

6. Derelict and Urban Vacant Land: Location and Trends

6.1 In 2018 there were 11,037 hectares of derelict and urban vacant land, of which 82% (9,044 hectares) was classified as derelict. Five councils (East Ayrshire, Highland, North Lanarkshire, North Ayrshire and Glasgow City) together contain just over 60% of all recorded derelict and urban vacant land.

Table 2 - Derelict and Urban Vacant Land by Planning Authority¹

Local Authority	Derelict Land			Urban Vacant Land			Total 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 V&D Land (by Area)2	No. of Sites
Aberdeen City	13	*	14	30	2	25	42	0	39
Aberdeenshire	43	*	30	35	2	30	79	1	60
Angus	229	3	26	52	3	22	281	3	48
Argyll and Bute3	38	*	11	20	1	25	58	1	36
Clackmannanshire	46	1	13	11	1	14	57	1	27
Dumfries and Galloway	301	3	46	18	1	7	320	3	53
Dundee City	17	*	18	167	8	162	184	2	180
East Ayrshire	1,736	19	80	74	4	58	1,810	16	138
East Dunbartonshire	43	*	10	26	1	14	69	1	24
East Lothian	78	1	28	10	*	10	88	1	38
East Renfrewshire	34	*	23	18	1	19	52	0	42
City of Edinburgh	88	1	24	77	4	48	165	1	72
Falkirk	208	2	48	69	3	35	277	3	83
Fife	598	7	162	129	6	65	727	7	227
Glasgow City	580	6	276	425	21	445	1,005	9	721
Highland4	1,276	14	103	66	3	81	1,342	12	184
Inverclyde	83	1	51	73	4	56	155	1	107
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park3	6	*	7	1	*	2	7	0	9
Midlothian	107	1	34	11	1	10	117	1	44
Moray	7	*	8	8	*	12	16	0	20
Na h-Eileanan Siar	*	*	1	8	*	2	8	0	3
North Ayrshire	1,098	12	117	181	9	105	1,279	12	222
North Lanarkshire	1,189	13	403	145	7	99	1,334	12	502
Orkney Islands	32	*	1	.	-	.	32	0	1
Perth and Kinross3	17	*	25	25	1	7	42	0	32
Renfrewshire	160	2	29	95	5	82	255	2	111
Scottish Borders	45	*	56	22	1	15	68	1	71
Shetland Islands	6	*	6	1	*	2	7	0	8
South Ayrshire	96	1	55	23	1	15	118	1	70
South Lanarkshire	296	3	111	94	5	95	390	4	206
Stirling3	117	1	12	28	1	23	145	1	35
West Dunbartonshire3	152	2	57	16	1	15	168	2	72
West Lothian	304	3	44	37	2	19	341	3	63
Scotland	9,044	100	1,929	1,992	100	1,619	11,037	100	3,548

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. As a percentage of the total vacant/derelict land recorded in Scotland.

3. 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.

4. Highland has not updated their survey since 2015, their 2018 figures have been carried over from 2015.

6.2 3,548 sites were recorded in the 2018 survey. The seventeen largest sites (each over 100 hectares) collectively account for 3,300 hectares - 30% of all recorded derelict and urban vacant land. Those sites, all of which are derelict, include eight of the former opencast coal sites in East Ayrshire (1,240 hectares), Fearn and Fendom Airfields (collectively 681 hectares) and Ardersier Port (255 hectares) in Highland, two sites in North Ayrshire (553 hectares), a former airfield in Dumfries & Galloway (185 hectares), disused railway lines in Angus (166 hectares), the former Ravenscraig site in North Lanarkshire (115 hectares) and the former Royal Ordnance site at Bishopton, Renfrewshire (105 hectares).

In addition, a 170-hectare site, the former airbase at Edzell, Aberdeenshire is not included in the above figures but is noted as a vacant site in a small settlement (Annex Table 2).

6.3 There are 27 hectares of urban vacant and derelict land located within Scotland’s National Parks with 26% (7 hectares) in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs (LLTNP) and 74% (20 hectares) in Cairngorms (CNP).

Table 3 - Derelict and Urban Vacant Land located within Scotland's National Parks¹

National Park	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 V&D Land (by Area)2	No. of Sites
Cairngorms	13	68	9	7	91	7	20	74	16
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs	6	32	7	1	9	2	7	26	9
Total	20	100	16	8	100	9	27	100	25

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. As a percentage of the total vacant/derelict land recorded in Scotland's National Parks.

6.4 There are 5,560 hectares of derelict and urban vacant land located within Scotland’s Strategic Development Plan (SDP) areas.

Table 4 - Derelict and Urban Vacant Land located within Scotland's Strategic Development Plan Areas¹

Strategic Development Plan Area	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 V&D Land (by Area)2	No. of Sites
Aberdeen City & Shire	56	1	43	65	4	55	121	2	98
Clydeplan	2,537	62	959	891	60	825	3,428	62	1,784
SESplan	1,171	29	304	279	19	158	1,450	26	462
TAYplan	311	8	112	250	17	199	561	10	311
Total	4,075	100	1,418	1,485	100	1,237	5,560	100	2,655

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. As a percentage of total vacant/derelict land recorded in Scotland's Strategic Development Plan Areas.

The SDP areas comprise:

• Aberdeen City and Shire Strategic Development Plan Area (Aberdeen City and Shire):
• Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Strategic Development Plan area (Clydeplan):

Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire local authority areas (except the part of Aberdeenshire that forms part of CNP).

East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire local authority areas (except the part of West Dunbartonshire that forms part of LLTNP).

• Edinburgh and South East Scotland Strategic Development Plan area (SESplan):

City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders, West Lothian and Fife (Kirkcaldy, Mid-Fife and Dunfermline local planning areas only) local authority areas.

• Dundee, Perth, Angus and North Fife Strategic Development Plan area (TAYplan): Angus (except the part of Angus that forms part of CNP), Dundee City, Perth & Kinross (except the part of Perth & Kinross that forms part of LLTNP) and Fife (St. Andrews and North Fife local planning areas only) local authority areas.

More information about SDP areas is available from Planning Circular 1/2013 on the Scottish Government website.

6.5 Table 5 shows the area of recorded derelict and urban vacant land from 2012 to 2018. A small number of councils did not participate in every survey during those years. In these cases, the previous years’ data is rolled forward until new data becomes available. Highland has not updated their data since 2015 so data for Highland is carried over from 2015 in this report. Details of participation in the survey is available in Annex Table 5.

6.6 Since the last survey there has been a net decrease of 716 hectares (6%) in Scotland’s total amount of derelict and urban vacant land, from 11,753 hectares in 2017 to 11,037 hectares in 2018. This net change is caused by the rehabilitation and reuse of some sites and others becoming vacant or derelict. In addition, there have been changes in the recorded areas of existing sites while other sites have become naturalised.

6.7 The total amount of derelict and urban vacant land in Scotland has shown a net decrease of 3% since 2012 (from 11,342 hectares in 2012 to 11,037 hectares in 2018). Excluding derelict mineral sites, the total amount of derelict and urban vacant land has decreased from 9,413 hectares in 2012 to 7,973 hectares in 2018 (15% decrease).

6.8 Changes in the recorded areas of derelict and urban vacant land vary by council. 24 councils had decreases in levels of recorded derelict and urban vacant land, including Renfrewshire (down 74%), Midlothian (down 57%) and Dumfries and Galloway (down 35%). Eight councils recorded more in 2018 than they did in 2012, including East Ayrshire with more than four times as much and Clackmannanshire with more than double the area recorded for 2012. Percentage changes for some councils are volatile due to there being only a small base of recorded land in 2012.

Table 5 - Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land by Planning Authority, 2012-2018^1,2,3

Local Authority	Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land Area (ha)							% Change 2012-20185
	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Aberdeen City	54	52	46	38	38	35	42	-21%
Aberdeenshire	83	75	71	71	79	80	79	-5%
Angus	173	173	183	164	142	144	281	62%
Argyll and Bute4	34	34	31	59	58	58	58	67%
Clackmannanshire	21	28	36	32	74	64	57	170%
Dumfries and Galloway	492	492	491	463	465	320	320	-35%
Dundee City	187	196	211	215	204	182	184	-2%
East Ayrshire	335	351	2,553	2,541	2,457	2,401	1,810	441%
East Dunbartonshire	71	66	62	71	77	76	69	-3%
East Lothian	71	72	70	91	95	92	88	25%
East Renfrewshire	55	60	60	55	55	51	52	-5%
City of Edinburgh	211	213	208	184	168	178	165	-22%
Falkirk	159	173	187	200	246	286	277	74%
Fife	927	935	940	731	728	729	727	-22%
Glasgow City	1,239	1,196	1,171	1,145	1,111	1,069	1,005	-19%
Highland6	1,455	1,382	1,373	1,342	1,342	1,342	1,342	-8%
Inverclyde	141	149	146	163	160	156	155	10%
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park4	19	30	30	27	27	27	7	n/a
Midlothian	271	271	216	199	191	120	117	-57%
Moray	17	22	21	15	15	15	16	-10%
Na h-Eileanan Siar	10	10	10	10	9	9	8	-22%
North Ayrshire	1,355	1,349	1,356	1,346	1,341	1,346	1,279	-6%
North Lanarkshire	1,374	1,304	1,298	1,263	1,228	1,283	1,334	-3%
Orkney Islands	41	39	39	39	39	39	32	-23%
Perth and Kinross4	50	53	56	56	49	42	42	-16%
Renfrewshire	981	957	927	913	860	272	255	-74%
Scottish Borders	86	82	76	75	75	70	68	-22%
Shetland Islands	8	8	7	6	6	7	7	-15%
South Ayrshire	97	102	101	107	106	105	118	21%
South Lanarkshire	470	475	472	461	411	422	390	-17%
Stirling4	177	175	164	163	152	148	145	-18%
West Dunbartonshire4	193	188	189	182	171	165	168	-13%
West Lothian	485	485	491	420	420	420	341	-30%
Scotland	11,342	11,200	13,291	12,846	12,597	11,753	11,037	-3%

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. See Annex Table 5 for details of council participation in different years.

3. During 2018, historical data for the years 2012-2017 were updated as a result of improved information. This included removing sites that should not have been included in previous years, adding sites that should have been included earlier and making any required changes to site size. Further information on this process is available in the Annex along with un-amended historical data for the survey years of 1996-2011.

4. 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.

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.

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