Scottish Vacant And Derelict Land Survey 2021

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 27.2% 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 48.8% living at least 1,000 metres from a derelict site (Table 9).

8.3 People’s proximity to derelict land varies significantly by authority. The councils with the highest proportion of their population living within 500m of derelict land are North Lanarkshire (73.7%), Glasgow City (55.5%) and Inverclyde (53.1%) whereas the figure for City of Edinburgh is 5.6%. In Na h-Eileanan Siar none of the population lives within 500 metres of a derelict site.

8.4 In 2015, an estimated 29.7% of Scotland’s population lived within 500 metres of a derelict site. This has decreased to 27.2% in 2021 (Table 10).

8.5 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.

8.6 From 2013, long term derelict sites have been considered to be those recorded as derelict prior to 2001. For the years 2015 to 2021 the percentage of Scotland’s population that were estimated to live within 500 metres of a site that was long term derelict fell by 2.2 percentage points from 2015 to 2021 to 13.5%.

8.7 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 (36.8%), North Lanarkshire (30.7%) and Inverclyde (30.0%).

General notes - at sections 3 and 4 apply.

Specific note 20 - Glasgow conducted a partial survey in 2021 and some sites were recorded as re-used but no new sites were added due to difficulty with resource for the survey. Dundee City and West Lothian have not updated their survey since 2019 so no new data is available on new site in 2021. Details of survey return rates back to 2015 are shown at Annex D.

Specific note 24 - six authorities reported various impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on their survey return in 2021. More details are provided at sections 3 and 4. These impacts should be borne in mind when using and interpreting the figures for these authorities in the year 2021, when comparing the 2021 figure to other years and when interpreting the Scotland total for 2021.

Table 10 – Estimated percentage of local authority population living within 500m of derelict land, 2015-2021 [Note 20] [Note 21] [Note 24]

General notes - at sections 3 and 4 apply.

Specific note 20 - Glasgow conducted a partial survey in 2021 and some sites were recorded as re-used but no new sites were added due to difficulty with resource for the survey. Dundee City and West Lothian have not updated their survey since 2019 so no new data is available on new site in 2021. Details of survey return rates back to 2015 are shown at Annex D.

Specific note 21 - analysis of distance of population to derelict land was not carried out in 2020 due to the lower rate of survey returns during the Covid pandemic. The dotted line indicates that there is a break in the series between 2019 and 2021.

Specific note 24 - six authorities reported various impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on their survey return in 2021. More details are provided at sections 3 and 4. These impacts should be borne in mind when using and interpreting the figures for these authorities in the year 2021, when comparing the 2021 figure to other years and when interpreting the Scotland total for 2021.