Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2001

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Statistical Bulletin ENV/2002/1: Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2001

  1. Reuse of vacant and derelict land

10.1 The tables and charts in this section relate only to sites (or parts thereof) which were brought back into actual use. Sites removed from the survey for definitional reasons or due to naturalisation are not included here: details of these sites are given in Annex Table B and Annex Table C.

Table 17: Derelict land reclaimed and vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey, by local authority area, 2001 1,2

Local Authority

Derelict Land

Vacant Land

Total Vacant and Derelict Land

Area (ha)

% of
Derelict Land
(by Area)

No. of Sites

Area (ha)

% of
Vacant Land
(by Area)

No. of Sites

Area (ha)

% of
Total Land
(by Area)

No. of Sites

Aberdeen City

-

-

-

9

3

10

9

1

10

Aberdeenshire

1

*

1

-

-

-

1

*

1

Angus

3

1

2

4

1

2

7

1

4

Argyll & Bute

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Clackmannanshire

1

*

1

1

*

1

2

*

2

Dumfries and Galloway

1

*

1

-

-

-

1

*

1

Dundee City 3

6

1

4

31

9

31

37

5

35

East Ayrshire

73

16

7

7

2

6

80

10

13

East Dunbartonshire

*

*

1

-

-

-

*

-

1

East Lothian

3

1

2

1

*

4

4

1

6

East Renfrewshire

-

-

-

1

*

2

1

*

2

Edinburgh, City of

-

-

-

6

2

2

6

1

2

Eilean Siar

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Falkirk 3

6

1

6

7

2

13

13

2

19

Fife

23

5

7

22

7

14

45

6

21

Glasgow City

59

13

37

72

21

82

131

17

119

Inverclyde

6

1

6

3

1

10

9

1

16

Midlothian

3

1

6

6

2

5

9

1

11

North Ayrshire

-

-

-

5

1

5

5

1

5

North Lanarkshire

51

11

33

57

17

36

108

14

69

Orkney Islands

-

-

-

4

1

9

4

1

9

Perth and Kinross

15

3

5

17

5

4

32

4

9

Renfrewshire

5

1

8

19

6

21

24

3

29

Scottish Borders 3

7

2

7

7

2

14

14

2

21

Shetland Islands

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

South Ayrshire

7

2

6

-

-

-

7

1

6

South Lanarkshire

21

5

6

31

9

21

53

7

27

Stirling

4

1

3

6

2

4

10

1

7

West Dunbartonshire

4

1

7

9

3

9

13

2

16

West Lothian 3

151

34

11

17

5

5

168

21

16

Scotland

449

100

167

343

100

310

792

100

477

1 Figures may not sum due to rounding
2 The figures for Moray and Highland are not included as they did not participate in the 2001 survey
3 The figures for Dundee City, Falkirk, Scottish Borders and West Lothian are sites brought back into use between 1999 and 2001
as they did not participate in the 2000 survey

10.2 Table 17 shows that a total of 792 hectares (477 sites) were reclaimed or brought back into use since the previous survey, excluding those sites removed for definitional reasons or due to naturalisation. As with Table 16, this refers to land brought back into use since 2000, except where a local authority did not complete the 2000 survey, in which case the figures refer to sites brought back into use since 1999. 449 hectares of the land brought back into use was derelict land that was reclaimed, of which 34 per cent was in West Lothian (151 hectares), 16 per cent was in East Ayrshire (73 hectares), and 13 per cent was in Glasgow City (59 hectares). Of the 343 hectares of vacant land which was brought back into use, 21 per cent (72 hectares) was in Glasgow City, and 17 per cent (57 hectares) was in North Lanarkshire.

10.3 The new use of sites, or parts of sites, that were reclaimed or brought back into use (excluding sites removed for definitional reasons) is shown in Table 18.

Table 18: Reclaimed derelict land and vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey, by new use, 2001 1-3

New Use

Derelict Land

Vacant Land

Total Vacant and Derelict Land

Area (ha)

% of
Derelict Land
(by Area)

No. of Sites

Area (ha)

% of
Vacant Land
(by Area)

No. of Sites

Area (ha)

% of
Total Land
(by Area)

No. of Sites

Agriculture

114

25

8

7

2

4

121

15

12

Business Class

2

1

2

24

7

9

26

3

11

Community & Health

2

*

3

6

2

5

8

1

8

Education

1

*

1

5

1

3

5

1

4

Forestry/Woodland

1

*

2

-

-

-

1

*

2

Manufacturing

18

4

8

6

2

8

24

3

16

Mineral Activity

129

29

15

-

-

-

129

16

15

Nature Conservation

-

-

-

10

3

1

10

1

1

Offices

-

-

-

7

2

5

7

1

5

Other General Industry

21

5

15

32

9

29

54

7

44

Passive Open Space

10

2

4

25

7

19

35

4

23

Recreation & Leisure

16

4

7

8

2

10

25

3

17

Residential

105

23

78

148

43

158

253

32

236

Retailing

19

4

11

24

7

14

43

5

25

Storage

3

1

5

5

2

6

9

1

11

Transport

1

*

3

5

1

11

6

1

14

Utility Services

-

-

-

1

*

3

1

*

3

Wholesale Distribution

5

1

2

16

5

7

21

3

9

Vacant Pending New Use

1

*

1

7

2

4

9

1

5

Other

1

*

2

6

2

12

7

1

14

Unknown 4

-

-

-

1

-

2

1

-

2

Total

449

100

167

343

100

310

792

100

477

1 Figures may not sum due to rounding
2 The figures for Moray and Highland are not included as they did not participate in the 2001 survey
3 The figures for Dundee City, Falkirk, Scottish Borders and West Lothian are sites brought back into use between 1999 and 2001 as they did not participate in the 2000 survey
4 Unknown values are excluded from the calculation of percentages

10.4 Chart 7 shows the distribution of new uses for vacant and derelict land brought back into use since the previous survey. The most common new use for derelict land was for mineral activity, with 29 per cent (129 hectares) of the land area being reclaimed for this purpose. The second most common use for derelict land was for agriculture, for which 25 per cent (114 hectares) was used, followed by residential development, for which 23 per cent (105 hectares) was used. The most common new use for vacant land was for residential development, with 43 per cent (148 hectares) being used.

Chart 7: New uses for vacant and derelict land, 2001

10.4 The average size of reclaimed derelict sites was 2.7 hectares (Table 18). Sites reclaimed for mineral activity were an average of 8.6 hectares in size, compared with 14.3 hectares for agriculture and 1.3 hectares for residential development.

10.5 The average size of vacant sites brought back into use was 1.1 hectares. Sites used for residential purposes were an average of 0.9 hectares in size, and those used for other general industry were 1.8 hectares in size.

10.6 Table 19 shows the distribution of site size classes for those sites brought back into use. The distribution is similar to that for extant sites (i.e. those which remain vacant or derelict). This implies that the 'demand' for vacant or derelict sites closely matches the 'supply', in terms of the size of available sites.

Table 19: Distribution of size of sites brought back into use and extant sites, 2001 1-3

Type

Size of Site

No. of
Sites
<= 1 ha

% of Sites

No. of
Sites
1-5 ha

% of Sites

No. of
Sites
5-10 ha

% of Sites

No. of
Sites
10-20 ha

% of Sites

No. of
Sites
>= 20 ha

% of Sites

Total
No.of
Sites

% of Sites

Derelict

Extant

1,086

55

616

31

154

8

76

4

52

3

1,984

100

New Use

100

60

49

29

10

6

5

3

3

2

167

100

Vacant

Extant

1,773

66

783

29

88

3

29

1

13

-

2,686

100

New Use

229

74

70

23

10

3

1

*

-

-

310

100

Total

Extant

2,859

61

1,399

30

242

5

105

2

65

1

4,670

100

New Use

329

69

119

25

20

4

6

1

3

1

477

100

1 Figures may not sum due to rounding
2 The figures for Moray and Highland are not included as they did not participate in the 2001 survey
3 The figures for Dundee City, Falkirk, Scottish Borders and West Lothian are sites brought back into use between 1999 and 2001
as they did not participate in the 2000 survey

10.7 Table 20 shows the previous use and new use of sites brought back into use since the previous survey. The new use of sites is not the same as the previous use, in the majority of cases. However, of the 67 hectares of vacant and derelict land where the previous use was residential, 54 hectares were brought back into use for residential development (81 per cent). Of land brought back into use for mineral activities, 128 of the 129 hectares had previously been used for mineral activities.

Table 20: Reclaimed derelict land and vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey: previous use against new use, 2001 1-3

Previous
Use
(hectares)

New Use (hectares)

Forestry/
Open Space/
Nature
Conservation

Agriculture

Mineral
Activity

Defence

Recreation
& Leisure

Community
& Health/
Education

Residential

Retail

Offices/
Business
Class

Manufacturing/
Other
General
Industry

Storage/
Wholesale
Distribution

Transport

Utility
Services

Vacant
Pending
New
User/
Unknown

Other/
Unknown

Total

Forestry/Open
Space/Nature
Conservation

1

-

-

-

-

-

7

*

8

1

-

-

-

-

*

18

Agriculture

16

4

-

-

*

*

27

8

10

4

15

1

1

-

1

85

Mineral Activity

7

87

128

-

6

-

25

-

-

3

8

-

-

-

-

264

Defence

-

11

-

-

-

-

2

-

-

-

*

1

-

-

1

15

Recreation &
Leisure

*

-

-

-

6

5

8

1

-

*

-

-

-

-

-

21

Community &
Health/Education

*

5

1

-

*

4

22

3

-

4

-

-

-

-

-

40

Residential

3

-

-

-

-

1

54

-

-

-

-

1

-

7

1

67

Retail

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

-

*

-

*

-

-

1

3

Offices/Business
Class

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3

Manufacturing/
Other General
Industry

5

-

-

-

2

2

59

15

8

25

5

1

-

1

*

123

Storage/
Wholesale
Distribution

-

*

-

-

*

-

16

2

1

1

*

-

*

-

2

22

Transport

9

*

-

-

2

1

4

*

-

5

*

1

-

-

-

22

Utility Services

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

*

-

-

-

-

1

2

Vacant
Pending New
Use

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Other/Unknown

4

14

-

-

8

1

26

10

6

35

*

1

-

-

2

107

Total

45

121

129

-

25

13

253

43

33

78

29

6

1

9

8

792

1 Figures may not sum due to rounding
2 The figures for Moray and Highland are not included as they did not participate in the 2001 survey
3 The figures for Dundee City, Falkirk, Scottish Borders and West Lothian are sites brought back into use between 1999 and 2001 as they did not participate in the 2000 survey

10.8 Table 21 shows the preferred and actual new use of sites brought back into use since the last survey. Overall, for 369 hectares (47 per cent) of the 792 hectares of land brought back into productive use, the class of primary preferred new use was the same as the actual new use to which the land was put.

Table 21: Reclaimed derelict land and vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey: preferred use against actual use, 2001 1-3

Preferred
New Use
(hectares)

Actual New Use (hectares)

Forestry/
Open Space/
Nature Conservation

Agriculture

Mineral
Activity

Recreation
& Leisure

Community &
Health/
Education

Residential

Retail

Offices/
Business
Class

Manufacturing/
Other
General
Industry

Storage/
Wholesale
Distribution

Transport

Utility
Services

Vacant
Pending
New
Use

Other/
Unknown

Total

Forestry/
Open Space/
Nature Conservation

10

12

6

1

-

9

2

-

6

*

*

-

3

1

50

Agriculture

10

78

114

1

-

1

-

-

-

3

-

-

-

-

207

Mineral Activity

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Recreation &
Leisure

6

-

-

10

-

8

3

-

-

-

*

-

-

-

26

Community &
Health/Education

-

-

-

-

5

12

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

*

17

Residential

12

-

-

8

6

189

2

-

3

-

*

1

6

1

228

Retail

-

-

-

-

-

*

6

-

1

-

1

-

-

1

9

Offices/
Business Class

3

-

-

1

-

15

1

6

2

2

*

-

-

2

33

Manufacturing/
Other General
Industry

4

11

-

3

1

13

22

15

63

20

3

-

-

2

157

Storage/
Wholesale
Distribution

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

9

1

3

-

-

-

-

13

Transport

-

-

-

*

-

-

7

2

-

-

1

-

-

-

10

Utility Services

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Vacant
Pending
New Use

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Other/
Unknown

*

20

9

-

1

7

1

2

2

2

-

-

-

*

42

Total

45

121

129

25

13

253

43

33

78

29

6

1

9

8

792

1 Figures may not sum due to rounding
2 The figures for Moray and Highland are not included as they did not participate in the 2001 survey
3 The figures for Dundee City, Falkirk, Scottish Borders and West Lothian are sites brought back into use between 1999 and 2001
as they did not participate in the 2000 survey

Page updated: Friday, May 19, 2006