Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2017

8 Urban Vacant Land: Levels and Location

8.1 This section focuses exclusively on urban vacant land, its levels over the past seven years and its location within Scotland. Vacant land is land which is unused for the purposes for which it is held and is viewed as an appropriate site for development. The land must either have had prior development on it or had preparatory work taken place in anticipation of future development. Vacant land is described as urban when it is located within settlements of over 2,000 in population. Unlike derelict land, urban vacant land is generally not in need of rehabilitation before new development can commence.

Chart 5: Local Authorities with the largest amount of Urban Vacant Land, 2017

8.2 Chart 5 shows the ten councils with the largest amounts of urban vacant land in 2017. There were 2,075 hectares of urban vacant land recorded in Scotland in 2017. Glasgow City has the most urban vacant land with 449 hectares, followed by North Ayrshire (191 hectares) and then Dundee City (168 hectares). In 2017, the largest areas of urban vacant land in Scotland were sites in Orchardbank Business Park, Angus (28 hectares), Redburn, Irvine, North Ayrshire (22 hectares) and Claverhouse Business Park, Dundee (21 hectares).

8.3 Table 11 shows the amount of urban vacant land in Scotland, split by local authority for the years 2011-2017. In 2011 there were 2,551 hectares of urban vacant land in Scotland. This figure has fallen to 2,075 hectares in 2017. Between 2011 and 2017 there has been an overall 19% (476 hectares) reduction in the amount of urban vacant land in Scotland. A small number of councils did not participate in every survey between 2011 and 2017. In those cases, previous years’ data is rolled forward until new data becomes available.

Table 11: Total Urban Vacant Land by local authority area, 2011-2017 ^[1,2,3]

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
2. See Annex Table E for details of council participation in different years.
3. During 2017, historical data for the years 2011-2017 were revised to remove sites that had been taken out of the survey for definitional reasons and to correct any revisions to the data highlighted in the 2017 survey returns. Further information on this process is available in the Annex along with un-amended historical data for the survey years of 1996-2010.
4. From 2011 LLTNP took responsibility for surveying vacant and derelict land within the park boundaries. These sites are no longer recorded in Argyll & Bute, Perth & Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire local authority boundaries, and are separately identifiable as LLTNP 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. 2017 data for Highland and West Lothian is carried over from 2015.

8.4 Changes in the relative amount of urban vacant land in Scotland show variation at council level. The largest absolute reduction was seen in Glasgow City, down by 187 hectares from 635 hectares in 2011 to 449 hectares in 2017. Some of the larger percentage changes for certain councils (for example Orkney Islands and Perth & Kinross) are due to there only being a small base of recorded land in 2011.

8.5 Chart 6 shows the change since 2011 in total levels of urban vacant land for the 6 councils with the most urban vacant land in 2011. Glasgow City has consistently had the highest amount of urban vacant land in Scotland for the period 2011-2017. Glasgow reported 635 hectares of urban vacant land in 2011, decreasing to 449 hectares (a net decrease of 29%) by 2017. Four other authorities recorded percentage decreases: Renfrewshire (48%), North Lanarkshire (43%), North Ayrshire (15%) and Dundee City (8%). In contrast South Lanarkshire has seen a 9% increase in the level of urban vacant land since 2011.

Chart 6: Total level of Urban Vacant Land in top 6 local authorities (as at 2011), 2011-2017