Question reference: S5W-23357
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 22 May 2019
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Current status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 June 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, when formulating the criteria for determining local authorities to be included in its Vacant and Derelict Land Fund, what consideration it has given to the (a) potential levels of contamination on the land left over from previous and historical structures and (b) length of time that various pieces of land in each of local authority area have been left unoccupied.
Answer
The objectives of the Vacant & Derelict Land Fund, as agreed with COSLA, are to stimulate economic growth, create jobs, promote environmental justice and improved quality of life, and support communities to flourish and tackle inequalities. The criteria and methodology for the fund, also agreed with COSLA, have been designed to ensure that these objectives are met, supporting the delivery of inclusive growth in Scotland’s most disadvantaged areas.
Whilst eligible local authorities might propose to use their allocation from the Vacant & Derelict Land Fund for remediation of long-term vacant and derelict land with historic contamination issues - and indeed they have used the fund this way before - land decontamination is not a specific objective for the fund.
The extent of long-term vacant and derelict land in Scotland’s local authority areas, as shown by the vacant and derelict land register, is a key factor (together with deprivation levels) in how the eligibility for funding and allocations are determined.