North Ayrshire Vacant & Derelict Land

Welcome to our story map displaying North Ayrshire's Vacant and Derelict land recorded for 2021. 

You can explore the Vacant & Derelict sites within North Ayrshire by clicking on, zooming-in, and moving around the map opposite (hold the shift key and drag a box with the left mouse button to zoom in on a specific area). The home symbol will take you back to the original view and the + and - symbols zoom in and out. Clicking on the button at the top right will expand or contract the map area. 

The sites that are contained within the register are shown with a red outline, click on a specific site and a "pop up" box will appear showing a table with details of that site; Site Reference, Name, Address, Site Size, also Site type. 

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. 

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. 

It is recognised that vacant and derelict sites, whatever size, have a negative impact on communities. It can blight an area very quickly, create issues by attracting antisocial behaviour, attracting vermin, fly tipping, contamination, and invasive floral species all of which have an impact on the health and wellbeing of the people who live within our communities.  

Although not exclusively an urban challenge, vacant and derelict land disproportionately affects urban communities in more deprived areas. Almost a third of the Scottish population live within 500m of a derelict site, a figure which rises to 55% in deprived communities. 

Figures published by the Scottish Government show that in 2020 Scotland had a total of 3,524 Vacant and Derelict Land (VDL) sites totalling 11,575 hectares.  

In the same year North Ayrshire Council had 212 sites totalling 1203 hectares, which accounts for 10% of the Scottish Total. The breakdown of ownership of the sites is as follows; 

• North Ayrshire Council – 32 sites (219 ha.) 
• Other Public bodies - 21 site (64 ha.) 
• Privately owned - 160 sites (919 ha.) 

North Ayrshire contains a significant legacy of vacant and derelict land sites, these are subject to a legacy of issues including undermining, contamination, deterioration, or major industrial closures. Whilst there are several reasons for a lack of redevelopment including economic, locational, or physical constraints, a lack of financial viability remains a common theme.   

North Ayrshire Council is committed to the reuse of Vacant and Derelict land and actively promotes this through the following policies. 

•  The North Ayrshire Council Plan.  
•  The North Ayrshire Council Community Wealth Building Strategy.  
• The North Ayrshire Council Regeneration Delivery Plan. 
•  The North Ayrshire Council Local Development Plan.  
•  The North Ayrshire Council Vacant & Derelict Land Strategy  

These policies and strategies support the recommendations of the  Scottish Land Commission’s Vacant and Derelict Land Taskforce  to make sites more visible to prospective buyers, aligning policy and funding to support delivery mechanisms to rehabilitate legacy sites and prevent new sites becoming long term blights on the landscape.

The North Ayrshire Council Vacant and Derelict Land Strategy was first created in 2014. A refresh of this strategy is planned for 2022 to align the strategy with several new policies and strategies that have been adopted at both a national and local level. 

Regeneration services undertakes an annual review of the extent and condition of vacant and derelict land within North Ayrshire. Sites are reviewed against the Scottish Government criteria, via a mixture of site visits and desktop work with amendments made as required. Alterations are digitised and reported to the Scottish Government in October each year with the results, alongside other Local Authorities, published in April. Below is a link to the Scottish Governments website where this information is published.  

For the purpose of this survey, a site is categorised if it satisfies all the conditions below. 

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.

 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

 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 

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. North Ayrshire 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.

North Ayrshire Council, Regeneration Service, Cunninghame House, Friar Croft, Irvine. KA12 8EE.

Telephone: 01292 310000

Regeneration@north-ayrshire.gov.uk