Scottish Government

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

6.1 Table 13 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 207 hectares (151 sites) of newly identified derelict land since the previous survey. Of these, 50 hectares (40 sites) were in Glasgow City and 34 hectares (10 sites) were in South Lanarkshire. There were 213 hectares (191 sites) of newly identified urban vacant land since the previous survey. Of these, 64 hectares (87 sites) were in Glasgow City and 33 hectares (16 sites) were in South Lanarkshire. 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 267 additional hectares of land.

Table 13: New Sites identified since the previous survey by local authority area, 2008 ^1-2

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
2. Sites identified since the previous survey but recorded as falling out of use prior to 2007 are not included in the above table.

6.2 Tables 14 to 20 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. 5 sites and 12 hectares of formerly derelict and urban vacant land in 2007 were removed due to naturalisation in the 2008 survey. Details of land removed for definitional reasons can be found in Annex Table D.

Table 14: Derelict land reclaimed and urban vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey, by local authority area, 2008 ¹

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

6.3 Table 14 shows that a total of 564 hectares (438 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. 270 hectares of land reclaimed back into use was derelict, of which 17% was in Fife (47 hectares) and 12% was in Glasgow City (32 hectares). Of the 294 hectares of urban vacant land brought back into use, 15% (45 hectares) was in Glasgow City and 12% (35 hectares) was in Perth & Kinross. The largest derelict or urban vacant sites brought back into use in 2008 were the Oudenarde Hospital site in Perth & Kinross (25 hectares) being reused for residential development, and the Ferry Toll Road site in Rosyth, Fife (15 hectares) being reclaimed from derelict to vacant land, prior to new development.

6.4 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 15. The most common new use for derelict land was residential development, with 37% (99 hectares) of the land reclaimed for this purpose. The second most common new use (excluding 'Other') was the reclaiming of derelict land to vacant status, accounting for 11% and 31 hectares. For urban vacant land, the most common new use was also residential development, with 59% (173 hectares) of the land reused for this purpose. The second most common new use was Other General Industry, with 10% of urban vacant land reused for this purpose (29 hectares).

Table 15: Reclaimed derelict land and urban vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey, by new use, 2008 ¹

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

6.5 Table 16 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 (63%). The source of funding was unknown for 10% of reclaimed land and public sector funding accounted for 13% of reclaimed land. Glasgow City had the greatest area brought back into use by public funding (17 hectares) with a further 12 hectares brought back into use with mixed funding. Perth & Kinross had 41 hectares brought back with mixed funding.

6.6 Residential development is the most common new use for land regardless of whether it had private funding only or public/mixed funding, 50% of all new privately funded land re-use was for residential development, compared to 47% of publicly funded or mixed funded land re-use.

Table 16: Sources of funding used for derelict land reclaimed and urban vacant land brought back into use since the previous survey, by local authority area, 2008 ¹

1. Mixed public and private sector funding or partnership

Table 17: Derelict land reclaimed and urban vacant land brought back into use at the Scotland level, 2002-2008 ^1-3

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
2. See Annex Table E for details of council participation in different years.
3. During 2008, historical data on the reuse of land from the years 2002-2007 was revised to correct any previous errors highlighted during the 2008 survey returns. Further information on this process is available in Annex A.4.

6.7 Table 17 shows 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 during 2002 to 2008, with the lowest amount of 199 hectares reclaimed in 2004 and the highest of 458 hectares the following year in 2005. At 202, the largest number of reclaimed derelict sites occurred in 2006, though the total land reclaimed was lower than 2005 at 252 hectares. On average, 302 hectares of derelict land was reclaimed in each year between 2002 and 2008. After a significant drop in 2003, the amount of urban vacant land reused gradually increased in the years until 2007, with a slight fall in 2008. The highest amount of urban vacant land reused occurred in 2002 at 391 hectares, with the lowest happening the following year at 271 hectares. On average, 307 hectares of vacant land was reused each year between 2002 and 2008. Despite the fact that there has been significantly more derelict land than urban vacant land recorded in the SVDLS over the 2002-2007 period, slightly more urban vacant land has been reused on average during this period than derelict land. This is likely to reflect the greater ease with which urban vacant land can be reused as it does not require the amount of land remediation prior to redevelopment as derelict land does.

6.8 Table 18 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, and South Lanarkshire joined the scheme in 2006/07. To date, a total of 86 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 reused 35 hectares and Glasgow City have so far reused 31 hectares (across 27 and 24 sites respectively) of formerly derelict and urban vacant land using the fund. Any involvement the VDLF has had with existing sites in the 2008 SVDLS ( i.e. those not yet removed from the survey) is not recorded in table 21. Highland has been included in the fund for the financial year 2008/09.

Table 18: 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, 2005-2008 ^1-3

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 67 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 2008 Vacant and
Derelict Land Survey (those not yet removed from the survey) is not recorded in the above table