The Scottish Government has reiterated its acceptance of greenfield sprawl in the east of Scotland in its new National Planning Framework 2.
The Framework has now been through consultation and it still accepts that, because higher levels of growth are expected in the east while brownfield sites are more concentrated in the west, "a higher proportion of new development will have to be on greenfield sites".
Infrastructure minister Stewart Stevenson said the Framework is to increase sustainable economic growth.
"It contributes to our efforts to create a joined-up planning and development regime which aids efforts to increase sustainable economic growth," he said.
Much of the document is devoted to major infrastructure developments the Government is committed to including the new Forth road bridge, airport expansion and port developments. But it does include a section on spatial perspectives.
It says Scotland has around 10,800ha of vacant or derelict land which it wants to see redeveloped and has allocated £36.6m for the 2008-11 period to see tackled in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Dundee and Highland.
The report notes the contaminated land regime's route for local authorities to carry out remediation - although a recent report shows this is barely functioning at all - and suggests further help is needed.
"To facilitate the reuse of brownfield sites and the regeneration of urban areas the Government intends to provide a route for the remediation of sites of low development value or where there are barriers to redevelopment," it says.
