Reclamation of derelict and vacant land in Scotland fell to its lowest level since 2002 in 2008-9 and there is now slightly more such land than there was eight years ago.
Scotland's chief statistician has released the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2009 produced by local authorities and the Scottish Government. The survey shows trends over the last 20 years.
The 2009 survey found 8,224ha of derelict and 2,640ha of vacant land, an overall increase of just 5ha on 2008.
But the total is some 217ha higher than the 2002 figure and is attributed to the recent large number of sites falling out of use.
The 2009 survey recorded 4,065 sites with six council areas (North Lanarkshire, Glasgow City, North Ayrshire, Highland, Renfrewshire and Fife) accounting for 63% of it.
The 12 largest derelict sites make up 27% of the total including Bishopton (708ha), Fearn and Fendom airfields in Highland (681ha), the Ardeer sites in North Ayrshire (645ha) and Ravenscraig East and West (236ha).
Between the 2008 and 2009 surveys, 247ha of land fell derelict on 113 sites, of which 128ha was in North Lanarkshire and 31ha in South Lanarkshire. 329 sites totalling 324ha were brought back into use; 169ha of this was formerly derelict, of which 29ha was in South Lanarkshire and 16% in South Ayrshire.
The largest single site brought into use was the Heathfield site in South Ayrshire, returned to agriculture, and the Kingseat Hospital site in Aberdeenshire, used for residential development.
New homes were the most common form of reuse (66ha), followed by transport (32ha) which includes the M74.
The statistics show the rate of reclamation of derelict land fluctuating over the 2002-9 period, peaking at 458ha in 2005 and recording the lowest level (169ha) last year.
Reclamation of urban vacant land peaked in 2002 (391ha) and fell to 155ha last year.
