Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2019

Data collection undertaken to establish the extent and state of vacant and derelict land in Scotland. The data is sourced from local authorities and the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority.

This document is part of a collection


8. Derelict Land: People’s Proximity to Derelict Land

8.1 This section focuses exclusively on derelict land and people’s proximity to such sites throughout Scotland. It reports on people’s proximity to derelict land and not their exposure to it.

8.2 28.4% of Scotland’s population is estimated to live within 500 metres of a derelict site. A further 24.0% are estimated to live between 500 metres and 1,000 metres of a derelict site with the remaining 47.6% living at least 1,000 metres from a derelict site (Table 9).

8.3 People’s proximity to derelict land varies significantly by authority. For example, 54.7% of Glasgow City’s population is estimated to live within 500 metres of a derelict site, whereas the figure for City of Edinburgh is 7.3%. The councils with the highest proportion of their population living within 500m of derelict land are North Lanarkshire (75.2%), Inverclyde (57.5%) and West Dunbartonshire (57.3%). The populations of the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands are least likely to be living close to derelict land, both with less than 1% of their population estimated to live within 500 metres of a derelict site.

8.4 In 2013, an estimated 29.7% of Scotland’s population lived within 500 metres of a derelict site. This has decreased slightly to 28.4% in 2019 (Table 10).

8.5 The notable decrease recorded in Orkney in 2014 is due to the removal of eight sites, seven for definitional reasons and one for retail development.

8.6 The increase recorded in Inverclyde in 2016 is due to the addition of three new sites all close to residential areas and changes made to site types for several older (pre 2001) sites from vacant to derelict as well as increases in the size of some older sites. The increase in Dumfries and Galloway in 2017 is due to the addition of 16 new derelict sites.

8.7 From 2013, long term derelict sites are considered to be those recorded as derelict prior to 2001. For the years 2013 to 2019 the percentage of Scotland’s population that were estimated to live within 500 metres of a site that was derelict prior to 2001 fell each year, falling by two percentage points from 2013 to 2019, 16.4% to 14.4%.

8.8 People’s proximity to long term derelict land varies significantly by authority. Those councils with the largest percentage of people within 500 metres of a long term derelict site are West Dunbartonshire (37.8%), Glasgow City (36.7%), Inverclyde (33.3%) and North Lanarkshire (32.9%).

8.9 Eight local authorities show an increase in population estimated to live within 500 metres of a site that was derelict prior to 2001 compared to the previous year, five of these are very small increases of only up to 0.2 percentage points. Increases in proximity to pre- 2001 sites are usually caused either by the entry of newly identified sites that have been derelict for a long time, or where old sites change type from vacant to derelict. New residential developments also have an effect.

Table 9 - Estimated percentage of local authority population living within various distances of Derelict Land, 20191
Local Authority Population2 Distance from Derelict Land in 20193
Less than 500m 500m to Less than 1,000m 1,000m or further
Aberdeen City 227,560 23.5 21.7 54.8
Aberdeenshire 261,470 10.5 12.8 76.7
Angus 116,040 18.3 22.0 59.7
Argyll and Bute 86,260 8.5 9.6 81.9
Clackmannanshire 51,400 27.5 34.3 38.2
Dumfries and Galloway 148,790 21.4 21.2 57.5
Dundee City 148,750 31.1 41.0 27.9
East Ayrshire 121,840 21.0 22.9 56.2
East Dunbartonshire 108,330 7.7 25.1 67.2
East Lothian 105,790 19.2 28.4 52.4
East Renfrewshire 95,170 21.8 24.3 53.9
City of Edinburgh 518,500 7.3 17.5 75.2
Falkirk 160,340 26.0 36.7 37.3
Fife 371,910 29.5 29.1 41.5
Glasgow City 626,410 54.7 33.6 11.7
Highland4 235,540 12.5 13.9 73.6
Inverclyde 78,150 57.5 25.3 17.2
Midlothian 91,340 27.3 39.3 33.4
Moray 95,520 7.7 15.0 77.3
Na h-Eileanan Siar 26,830 1.6 5.9 92.5
North Ayrshire 135,280 41.7 27.2 31.2
North Lanarkshire 340,180 75.2 20.7 4.1
Orkney Islands 22,190 0.2 0.0 99.8
Perth and Kinross 151,290 13.2 25.7 61.1
Renfrewshire 177,790 23.0 29.9 47.1
Scottish Borders 115,270 39.3 13.9 46.9
Shetland Islands 22,990 0.8 4.7 94.5
South Ayrshire 112,550 39.0 24.1 36.8
South Lanarkshire 319,020 24.8 23.9 51.2
Stirling 94,330 7.4 12.9 79.7
West Dunbartonshire 89,130 57.3 32.0 10.6
West Lothian 182,140 14.7 21.4 63.9
Scotland 5,438,100 28.4 24.0 47.6

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. Population figures used for each local authority are the 2018 mid-year estimates published by NRS.

3. Information on how this data was calculated is available in Annex Section A.8.

4. Highland has not updated their survey since 2015 so their 2019 figures have been calculated using figures from 2015.

Map 1 - Percentage of population within 500m of a derelict site, 2019
Map 1 - Percentage of population within 500m of a derelict site, 2019
Table 10 – Estimated percentage of local authority population living within 500m of derelict land, 2013-2019 1,2,3
Local Authority % of Population within 500m of any Derelict Site % of Population within 500m of long term derelict land (derelict prior to 2001)
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Aberdeen City 31.3 27.8 26.4 26.6 24.4 23.3 23.5 8.0 8.0 7.7 7.7 7.6 5.0 4.8
Aberdeenshire 6.9 7.4 6.8 8.2 10.2 11.1 10.5 1.2 1.2 1.0 * * 0.7 0.7
Angus 16.0 16.0 18.9 21.1 19.2 19.1 18.3 12.3 12.3 11.7 12.0 9.7 9.6 9.0
Argyll and Bute 9.3 7.0 8.9 9.2 9.0 8.5 8.5 5.9 5.8 5.8 6.0 5.9 5.8 5.9
Clackmannanshire 22.8 31.7 35.0 36.0 34.1 28.5 27.5 13.4 13.4 13.0 6.6 9.1 9.2 -
Dumfries and Galloway 10.6 10.6 8.7 8.6 21.4 21.3 21.4 4.2 4.2 2.4 2.4 3.5 3.5 3.4
Dundee City 27.8 30.2 31.4 31.9 28.8 32.5 31.1 16.1 16.1 12.3 12.2 12.2 16.5 14.7
East Ayrshire 28.1 28.0 28.0 28.2 26.2 22.8 21.0 11.0 11.0 10.4 10.5 8.8 8.7 8.5
East Dunbartonshire 20.8 18.4 16.4 19.4 19.6 7.7 7.7 15.2 15.2 15.1 15.1 15.2 7.6 7.7
East Lothian 16.2 18.7 17.9 17.9 17.6 17.0 19.2 18.8 18.7 13.2 13.2 12.8 7.3 7.3
East Renfrewshire 23.6 22.5 22.3 22.6 22.0 21.8 21.8 13.5 13.5 13.2 12.3 12.2 12.0 11.9
City of Edinburgh 16.7 15.2 13.7 13.0 7.5 7.5 7.3 3.8 3.8 2.7 2.9 3.0 3.0 2.7
Falkirk 11.3 11.1 13.0 24.3 25.1 27.1 26.0 10.0 10.0 9.9 11.6 13.3 10.4 13.1
Fife 25.7 28.0 27.9 29.6 29.1 30.0 29.5 11.4 11.4 11.0 9.7 12.5 12.3 12.1
Glasgow City 59.1 57.5 61.8 61.1 61.7 60.1 54.7 40.3 40.2 40.6 40.0 40.0 39.4 36.7
Highland4 13.9 15.2 12.6 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 11.3 11.3 9.8 9.6 9.7 9.7 9.7
Inverclyde 34.7 34.1 35.0 54.0 56.0 60.1 57.5 24.0 24.1 22.8 32.6 33.3 33.2 33.3
Midlothian 45.5 41.4 36.4 36.7 20.4 19.2 27.3 33.9 33.7 29.0 27.9 17.0 10.7 10.9
Moray 13.2 14.8 15.0 9.3 9.2 9.2 7.7 5.7 5.7 2.5 - - - -
Na h-Eileanan Siar 4.8 4.7 4.7 4.6 4.5 1.6 1.6 3.8 3.9 3.9 3.8 3.8 1.6 1.6
North Ayrshire 39.3 39.9 39.5 39.3 39.7 43.5 41.7 23.3 23.5 21.0 20.8 20.8 18.3 18.4
North Lanarkshire 67.0 69.6 73.5 73.4 75.8 74.6 75.2 33.9 33.9 34.0 34.6 33.6 32.4 32.9
Orkney Islands 22.0 0.6 0.6 0.6 1.0 * * 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 1.0 * *
Perth and Kinross 20.4 16.4 15.2 14.8 12.8 9.9 13.2 5.3 5.3 5.4 4.7 4.5 3.6 3.4
Renfrewshire 31.9 21.1 30.9 31.2 26.3 25.9 23.0 21.1 21.1 21.2 21.5 17.3 15.0 15.0
Scottish Borders 40.9 38.4 38.4 40.2 38.9 39.1 39.3 23.0 22.9 22.8 22.5 20.4 20.2 20.2
Shetland Islands 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8
South Ayrshire 24.8 25.0 30.9 33.0 32.5 37.7 39.0 16.2 16.2 16.2 20.4 20.5 20.7 19.3
South Lanarkshire 28.3 28.0 27.9 26.7 28.9 26.5 24.8 12.8 12.8 13.1 12.7 13.5 13.4 12.2
Stirling 11.3 9.0 9.7 7.2 7.2 5.7 7.4 4.3 4.2 4.9 3.6 3.5 3.1 4.5
West Dunbartonshire 60.7 62.1 64.0 61.7 57.5 57.9 57.3 41.1 41.4 42.3 40.5 39.6 38.3 37.8
West Lothian 24.7 20.3 20.0 20.1 19.9 14.6 14.7 11.3 11.3 9.9 9.9 9.8 8.8 8.8
Scotland 29.7 28.9 29.7 30.3 29.8 29.1 28.4 16.4 16.4 15.7 15.6 15.4 14.9 14.4

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

2. Population figures used for each local authority are the 2018 mid-year estimates published by NRS.

3. Information on how this data was calculated is available in Annex Section A.8.

4. Highland has not updated their survey since 2015 so their 2019 figures have been carried over from 2015.

Contact

Email: planstats@gov.scot

Back to top