Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey(SVDLS) Working Group (19/01/2015)
Paper 3: SVDLS Guidance clarification
The following are a few of the issues and queries that were raised during collection
of the 2014 data. It may be that some additional advice can be added to the
guidance for next year to help clarify these issues.
1. Former MOD sites
“We have not added a couple of sites as they are former military sites still in the
control of the MOD. We are unsure of what is happening to the sites, buildings
and infrastructure and obviously these details are kept confidential.
Have other authorities added vacant MOD sites to the register?”
In this case advice was given that MOD sites do not need to be added to the
register until it is clear that the sites are vacant.
SVDLS members are asked if they agree with this approach or it they have other
advice to offer.
2. Previously Developed Sites
“We would be particularly interested to find out how other local authorities are
deciding whether a site has been “previously developed” in relation to
employment land sites and the overall purpose of the SVDLS.”
Advice was given as follows for these two situations:
 Vacant sites on industrial estates that have a road access and a very
roughly prepared surface but have not been developed previously.
If some preparatory work had already been done this this could be
considered as the “previous development” and so the site could be
included on the register.

New allocations of employment land that are just rough ground waiting for
some sort of development to happen.
If future development is proposed then it is only when the site is prepared
(i.e. vegetation cleared and a covering surface material has been laid) that
it can be included. The guidance also says that if there is doubt between
‘vacant’ or ‘open space’ then ‘open space’ should be given the benefit of
the doubt.
SVDLS members are asked if they agree with this interpretation of “previously
developed land” and if they have any further points to note.
3. Shapefiles
“It proves to be quite difficult to obtain shapefiles of VDL while this data is quite
crucial to some of the work we are doing. I am aware of some of the difficulties
that the Local Authorities and the Scottish Government are facing with regards to
this, but I would like to open the discussion and see if a solution could be found.”
The Scottish Government has no plans to host an interactive web service
showing shapefiles for vacant and derelict land. However, we do provide pdf
maps for a selection of sites and these can be found here:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Planning/Publications/SVDL
SMaps13
Fife hosts an interactive website for vacant and derelict land.
http://www.fife.gov.uk/topics/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&p2sid=2565004
9-BD1F-4501-00395A050F6A7312&themeid=2B482E89-1CC4-E06A52FBA69F838F4D24
If we receive a request for local authority (LA) shapefiles then since this data
belongs to the LA we will refer the request on to the relevant LA.
SVDLS members are asked if they agree with this approach or if they have
another suggestion for requests for shapefiles.
4. Location Variable (INTRLOCN2)
At the working group meeting in November 2013 it was suggested that it may be
worthwhile making a check on the accuracy of this variable in the 2013 data.
The SVDLS guidance gives the following advice:
Indicate the location of the site. Note that, by definition, only derelict sites can be
located within the Countryside.
Site in settlement with population equal to or over 2,000
Site in settlement with population under 2,000
Site in countryside
1
2
3
The website of the National Records of Scotland (NRS), includes a list of all
Scottish settlements with populations greater than 500, and their size. This list
can be used to identify settlements with populations greater than 2,000. It can
be viewed at:
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/population/estimates/specialarea/settlements-localities/index.html
Shapefiles and maps of settlements are also provided
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/geography/geo-prods/settlements-and-localitiesdataset.html
The SVDLS statistics bulletin also states that “settlements are defined by local
authorities in their latest council approved local plan”.
A detailed comparison was made of the INTRLOCN2 variable in North
Lanarkshire (NL) data against NRS shapefiles. On the whole there was a good
match and there were just a few anomalies that were highlighted by North
Lanarkshire.
In this example the derelict sites (marked in red) were identified by NL as being in
the countryside because they are within the Green Belt in the North Lanarkshire
Local Plan (green line in the map below). However the NRS shapefiles would
have identified these as sites in a settlement.
The second example shows the former Lanarkshire Steel Works derelict site
(RED boundary). It must be included in the survey since it forms part of the
Ravenscraig redevelopment site. Ravenscraig is brownfield. It is very close to
Motherwell and Ravenscraig Town Centres (BLUE boundaries). NRS shapefiles
have these as countryside sites.
In conclusion, it therefore seems that NRS data is very helpful for decisions on
the size and extent of settlements. However, local knowledge of greenbelt and
brownfield sites from Local Plans should also be applied when deciding on the
value given to INTRLOCN2.
SVDLS members are asked if to comment on this approach to evaluation of the
INTRLOCN2 variable.
Should some extra wording be added to the SVDLS guidance indicating that the
Local Plan should also be taken into account?
When we issued your data last year we included a file with the NRS shapefiles.
Was this helpful or is it sufficient to have the link to the files in the guidance?
Communities Analytical Services
January 2015