FIFE VACANT AND DERELICT LAND AUDIT 2022

This report presents a summary of the results from the 2022 Fife Vacant and Derelict Land Audit. The survey is carried out annually and feeds into the Scottish Government's Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (SVDLS) which covers all Scottish local authorities.

1.1 Fife Council is committed to the reuse of Vacant and Derelict land, actively promoting this through policies and guidance.  Plan4Fife sets out the Council’s vision for a Fairer Fife with the ambition to develop thriving places with the reuse of derelict land and buildings forming part of our focus to invest in key town centres. Through our Leading Economic Recovery approach, we have set out how we will address the persistent and significant economic challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic alongside the challenges and opportunities associated with the Climate Emergency and EU Exit. While Fife-wide in scope, at the heart of this will be a focus on Mid-Fife and an independent appraisal of its economy has identified priority themes for investment which form the basis of the Mid-Fife Economic Investment Prospectus . The re-use of key high street and town centre sites to support regeneration and promote Place-Based Investment highlights where the repurposing of derelict land and buildings can improve quality of place and drive successful local economies.

1.2 The following policies and guidance actively promote the reuse of Vacant and Derelict land:

  Scottish Planning Policy 

  Scottish Government Land Use Strategy 2021-26  

  Scottish Government Contaminated Land Statutory Guidance  

  Plan For Fife 2017 - 2027  

  Fife Councils Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy 2019  

  Fife Councils Local Development Plan  

1.3 Previous Vacant and Derelict Land audits and an interactive map which complements this report can be found on the   Fife Council   website.

1.4 Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the extent of vacant and derelict land is fully recorded and reported, there may be further sites which meet the criteria but have not yet been put forward for assessment and inclusion and thus are not contained in this report. Fife Council will not accept responsibility for any financial or other claims arising from any errors in this document. We are committed to improving the content of this document and will amend any inaccuracies brought to our attention.

2.1 Vacant land is land without constraint and indicated by the Planning Authority as currently available for redevelopment. The land must either have had prior development on it or preparatory work has been undertaken in anticipation of future development. For the purpose of this survey, a site is categorised as vacant land if it satisfies all the conditions below;

Figure 2.1: Criteria for Vacant Land

-It must be at least 0.1 hectares in size;

-It must be located within the settlement boundary;

-It must have previously been developed;

-It must be ready for new development;

-It must have a new use intended for it in the Local Development Plan or via Planning Permission.

Figure 2.2: Criteria for Vacant Land and Buildings

-It must be 0.1 hectares in size;

-It must be located within the settlement boundary;

-It must have been previously developed;

-It must have a new use intended for it in the Local Development Plan or via Planning Permission; and Demolition of the buildings is not anticipated but the building(s) are a minor part of the site in relation to the vacant land element, and the site boundary cannot be easily redrawn to omit the building.

2.2 Derelict land (and buildings) is land which has been so damaged by development that it is incapable of development for beneficial use without rehabilitation. Land also qualifies as derelict if it has an un-remedied previous use which could constrain future development. Derelict sites can be located anywhere in Fife (both within and out with a settlement boundary) providing that it satisfies the following conditions;

Figure 2.3: Criteria for Derelict Land

-It must be at least 0.1 hectares in size;

-It must have been previously developed;

-It must not be ready for new development without rehabilitation;

-It must not be in use;

-It must not be a Scheduled Ancient Monument or Cemetery;

-It must not have a usable building(s) on it.

3.1 The 2022 vacant and derelict land audit has identified 207 sites across Fife amounting to 717.2 hectares of vacant and derelict land. This is a reduction of 9 hectares of land on 2021. The total amount of vacant and derelict land across Fife has been fairly consistent over the last 5 years. 

3.2 Derelict land has a broader impact on Fife both in terms of total area (606.8 hectares) and in the number of individual sites (154). 

4.1 Fife Council has seven area committees based upon recognised groupings of the 22 wards. The Area Committee structure reinforces the council’s commitment to localised decision making in addressing the differing needs of our communities.

Figure 4.1: Vacant and Derelict Land by Area Committee – Fife 2021/22

4.2 Where a site overlaps the area committee boundary the site area has been split along the committee boundary and attributed to the appropriate area committee in this allocation. Sites which fall into this category are KA010 and KA10.

4.3 Figure 4.1 shows South West Fife Area contains the largest proportion of Vacant and Derelict land accounting for 49% of the Fife total. The proportion of Vacant and derelict land within the Dunfermline Area committee remains the lowest.

4.4 It is important to note that the figures in Figure 4.1 are affected by a small number of large sites with 8 sites covering more than 20 hectares each. 6 of these large sites are located in South West Fife.

5.1 Since the previous audit a total of 9 vacant and derelict sites have been brought back into use with a total of 17.88 hectares of land. There has also been a reduction of 1.19ha of land due to revised measurements of site boundaries. The ability to physically assess sites for either inclusion or removal from the register was significantly impacted by Covid pandemic restrictions and hence there may be an underestimation on both counts in the 2022 report.

Figure 5.1: Details of Vacant and Derelict sites brought back into use 2021/2022

Figure 5.2: Total vacant and derelict land brought back into use 2013 - 2022

5.3 Figure 5.2 shows that the total land brought back into use has varied from year to year and has not followed any particular pattern.

5.4 Tracts of a former open cast mine (site KA010) were removed from the audit in 2015 due to definitional reasons and amounted to 247.34 hectares. As this is a particularly large amount this figure has not been included in the total for 2015 shown in Figure 5.2(*).

6.1 A total of 4 new Vacant or Derelict sites have been identified for inclusion in the 2022 audit.  Due to the nature of Vacant and Derelict sites, we rely on the input of colleagues across the council who attend site visits and feedback on potential VDL sites while out in the field. With the reduced number of site visits taking place due to the Covied-19 pandemic it is likely the frequency of sites identified by these means will reduce.

The Vacant and Derelict Land Fund (VDLF) aims to tackle long-term vacant and derelict land in Scotland. Its objectives are:

· to stimulate economic growth

· create jobs

· promote environmental justice and improved quality of life

· to support communities to flourish and tackle inequalities

It is a ringfenced element of the local government budget settlement, as agreed between COSLA and the Scottish Government. Since 2015/16 Fife Council has been one of five local authorities to have access to the fund premised on a needs-based formula applied annually by the Scottish Government Statistical Unit. The following amounts have been awarded to Fife Council:

2015/16 £1,316,100

2016/17 £914,677

2017/18 £1,515,000

2018/19 £1,486,000

2019/20 £1,772,000

2020/21 £1,313,000

2021/22 £1,451,000

2022/23 £1,451,000

The funding is currently allocated against circa 15 separate initiatives across Fife (some are programmes intended to cover multiple sites) and most of these remain in delivery. VDLF-supported projects are long-term (typically a minimum of 3-5 years), complex and often commercially sensitive due particularly to the fund’s role in delivering patient capital to permit remediation of derelict sites which present complex ground conditions. Use of VDLF alone is seldom sufficient to remediate and bring sites back into productive use and it is often used to help unlock other more substantial sources of funding to enable this.

The following are a selection of completed/current/proposed VDLF-supported projects across Fife:

- Initial funding of £170k (in 2015/16) to help deal with ground contamination at the site of the former Abertay Steelworks in Tayport. Ownership of the site was taken over by the local Community Trust and now hosts a new-build Community Hub, called the  Larick Centre  .

- £591k investment to support ground remediation/preparation works for a now-installed 1MW ground-mounted solar photovoltaic array on a site to the east of the Eden Campus site in Guardbridge to complement proposed City Region Deal investment in the main body of the site. This project was delivered in partnership with the University of St Andrews and was formally opened in May 2022:  Scotland’s oldest university launches solar farm in significant step towards net zero targets | University of St Andrews news (st-andrews.ac.uk) 

- £145k allocated to works on the former Flax Mill at Silverburn Country Park in Levenmouth which are now complete to make the building wind/watertight and to support the ongoing major regeneration of the park. This was delivered in partnership with The Fife Historic Buildings Trust and FEAT. The VDLF investment helped to unlock a £3.47 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, announced in February 2022, to support a five-year community-led project involving a new visitor centre, a backpackers’ hostel, café, artist studios, community space and a shop -  Silverburn Park | Camping - Cafe - Woodland Walks .

- £200k investment in completed ground decontamination works to make safe a council-owned site at Station Road, Thornton framed on both sides by residential properties.

- £150k investment which supported ground preparation works to enable installation of a ground-mounted solar photovoltaic array in the Methil Docks area adjacent to New Bayview Stadium close to the Fife Renewables Innovation Centre.

-Circa £2.2m investment to bolster Industrial Estate regeneration across Fife. This has been allocated to vacant and derelict sites at Hillend and Donibristle (Dalgety Bay), Muiredge, Mountfleurie (both in Levenmouth), The Avenue (Lochgelly) and on now-completed works at Queensway Industrial Estate in Glenrothes.

- £770k investment across two phases in a site at Energy Park Fife which was matched by monies from the Scottish Government’s Decommissioning Challenge Fund alongside leveraged in private investment to support future onshore oil and gas infrastructure decommissioning activity. As a result of this injection of funding an end-use operator for the site was identified, Cesscon Decom Ltd, and Scotland’s largest decommissioning contract to date was secured in 2021 -  The Energy Park Fife – UK | CessCon Decom 

- Circa £2.4m of front-loaded investment in town centre sites to support mixed-used development including affordable housing and commercial space in partnership with Kingdom Housing Association and Ore Valley Housing Association. This includes sites in Cupar (Bonnygate/Inner Court), Cowdenbeath (High Street/Factory Road) and Lochgelly (High Street/Hall Street former Fabtek Factory site). The fund is helping to deliver ground investigations, demolition of derelict buildings, ground stabilisation and remediation across these sites in advance of proposed end-development.

- VDLF has been secured to support acquisition and remediation by the Council of a former Waste Transfer Site in Kirkcaldy. This is subject to heads of terms being finalised with the current site owner and on the outcome of further intrusive site investigation works.

- £1m secured to support implementation of the Climate Fife Plan and its associated Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SECAP). It is intended that this will be bolstered through any future VDLF awards and will deliver feasibility studies leading to on the ground remediation works across a number of sites. The Council’s Climate Change and Zero Waste Team (part of the Planning Service) is continuing to refine a Climate Fife assessment tool for V+D sites which is currently being trialled. The Council are also supporting the Fife Communities Climate Action Network to deliver a feasibility assessment for a Community Renewables Initiative focused mainly on installation of ground-mounted solar PV arrays. The £30k of VDLF is being matched by £25k from the Scottish Government’s ‘Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES)’. The Council are also engaging with the Coal Authority on assessing the potential, again Fife-wide, of sites for ground-source heat from coalmines.

- Circa £850k VDLF funds have been secured and ringfenced for sites within the Levenmouth area. This will focus on a combination of feasibility, site investigation, ground stabilisation and remediation works. Complex ground investigations commissioned by Fife Council and SEPA (in support of the Leven Programme) carried out by RSK Geosciences on a site in Levenmouth won a National (UK-wide) Brownfield Award announced at a ceremony in London in October 2022. Further information and the Winners Guide can be downloaded at:  Brownfield Awards 2022 I Environment Analyst (environment-analyst.com) 

As evidenced above VDLF will remain a key element in supporting the Post-COVID Reform and Recovery agenda in Fife. While retaining a Fife-wide reach it will have a focus on complementing current and future investment tied to the priorities set out in the 2021 Mid-Fife Economic Investment Prospectus. This is all dependent on Fife Council retaining access to the fund in future years with regard to the above-mentioned ‘needs-based’ formula applied by the Scottish Government.

8.1 This section focuses exclusively on derelict land and people’s proximity to it. This is an estimated measure of proximity to derelict land and not their exposure to it. The Vacant and Derelict Land fund focuses on tackling long term derelict land across Fife therefore analysis of population proximity to long term derelict sites is also covered.

8.2 Figure 8.1 shows the % of population within 500 meters of any derelict site (2018– 2022). In 2022 it is estimated that 30.2% of Fife's population lives within 500m of a derelict site.

Figure 8.1: Estimated % of Fife population located within 500m of derelict land

8.3 Population figures are taken from the 2011 Census output areas. An average household population is calculated, and properties captured by the 500m buffer around derelict sites provides the total population figure.

8.4 Figure 8.2 shows the estimated % of Fife’s population which is located within 500m of long term derelict land (2018 – 2022).

Figure 8.2: Estimated % of Fife population located within 500m of long term derelict land

9.1 This section focuses on vacant and derelict land in Fife that is located within the 15% most deprived data zones in Scotland (as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation - SIMD).  The SIMD identifies small area concentrations of multiple deprivation across all of Scotland and takes into account 38 indicators across seven domains: Income, Employment, Health, Education, Skills and Training, Geographic Access to Services, Crime and Housing.

Figure 9.1: Vacant and derelict land located within Scotland’s 15% most deprived (SIMD 2020)

9.2 There are 494 data zones which cover Fife and of these 76 are within Scotland’s 15% most deprived according to the 2020 SIMD indicators. Figure 9.1 shows a breakdown of the vacant and derelict sites which intersect these data zones (sites are included where the site centroid falls within the data zone boundary). A total of 31 vacant and derelict sites have been identified and amount to 50.7 hectares.