Item 3
Glasgow City Council 18th November 2013 Canal Area Partnership
Report by Head of Housing Investment and Regeneration Services Development and Regeneration Services
Contact: Patrick Flynn Ext: 79970
REPORT ON VACANT AND DERELICT LAND WITHIN THE CANAL WARD AREA
Purpose of Report:
To advise on: x the prevalence of vacant and derelict land and property within the Canal Ward area; x the extent of public ownership of such land; x significant development proposals; and x the status of stalled spaces within the ward.
Recommendations:
That Committee notes the content of the report
Ward No(s): 16 Citywide:
Local member(s) advised: Yes No Consulted: Yes No
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING: Any Ordnance Survey mapping included within this Report is provided by Glasgow City Council under licence from the Ordnance Survey in order to fulfil its public function to make available Council-held public domain information. Persons viewing this mapping should contact Ordnance Survey Copyright for advice where they wish to licence Ordnance Survey mapping/map data for their own use. The OS web site can be found at “
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Vacant and derelict land has been an issue in Glasgow since the 1970s when the City experienced major decline in heavy industries (ship building, metalworking, etc), leaving a legacy of disused and contaminated land. The City has also undergone major clearance of substandard housing over several decades further contributing to the 7.04% of Glasgow’s land area which is categorised as vacant and/or derelict.
1.2 The former industrial land is particularly difficult to address because it is often affected by contamination and other physical constraints and is located in areas where land values are poor, making re-development financially unviable. In the period to 2008, while the economy was buoyant, some former housing sites in more marketable and popular locations were successfully redeveloped with private/ social rent/ mixed tenure housing schemes. From 2008 onwards, the pace of new private sector housing development has greatly reduced in the Canal ward as in the rest of Glasgow. The City Council continues with its efforts to tackle vacant and derelict land issues, through strategic and local area regeneration initiatives and partnerships and the Council also monitors progress through the annual vacant and derelict land survey (see section 2 below).
2. SCOTTISH VACANT AND DERELICT LAND SURVEY
2.1 The Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (SVDLS) is undertaken annually by local authorities in Scotland, on behalf of the Scottish Government. The aim of the survey is, to quote the guidance issued by Scottish Government:
“…to provide an invaluable source of information relating to vacant and derelict sites and assist in reinforcing and justifying national policy established to bring about the re-use of these land resources.”
2.2 The SVDLS has been undertaken annually every year since 1993. As well as being used to monitor the progress being made in the re-use of urban vacant and derelict land it assists in directing vacant and derelict land funding to stimulate development activity and underpin the Council’s physical regeneration priorities.
2.3 The definition of vacant and derelict land within the SVDLS documentation is quite lengthy, however, in essence the following definitions apply.
x Derelict Land (and Buildings): is land which has been so damaged by previous uses that it is incapable of sustaining new development without requiring some measure of remediation work.
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x Vacant Land: Generally includes unused or unsightly land which would benefit from development, improvement etc. For example, land which is unused or is used only on a seasonal, irregular, or temporary basis is included, whilst planned and incidental open space is excluded. 2.4 Appendix 1 attached is an extract of SVDLS sites within Canal Ward. Appendix 2 attached shows a map of the sites within the Canal Ward.
3 CITY WIDE TRENDS
3.1 In terms of city-wide trends, Glasgow’s SVDLS return was characterised by continual year on year reductions in the overall amount of Vacant and Derelict land recorded, until 2008, when the first ever significant increase in the total was recorded. This was due to a slowing in the rate of land taken up by development (an indicator of the current economic downturn), and an increase in new sites recorded due to clearance in anticipation of the M74 motorway extension and the restructuring of the City’s Primary Schools.
3.2 It is difficult to predict at present what further effect the downturn in the economy might have and it remains to be seen if this will result in additional vacant and derelict land being created. On a more positive note, public sector projects should result in significant take up of Vacant and Derelict Land as projects like the Commonwealth Games Village and the M74 are progressed. An annually produced Council “Vacant Land Report“ summarises the position and contains many useful statistics broken down by ward area.
3.3 Also produced by Development and Regeneration Services is a report on Glasgow’s “core statistics”. These are a set of annually prepared statistics used in the monitoring of Vacant and Derelict land over the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Structure Plan area, and used for policy formulation covering this area. The Council is in process of making SVDLS data available online but in the meantime information regarding sites can be obtained from Development and Regeneration Services’ Housing & Regeneration Services.
3.4 The Scottish Government issues an SVDLS Statistical Bulletin annually. This gives the position nationally, indicating the amount and nature of the Vacant and Derelict Land in Scotland by Local Authority Area. The Bulletin can be accessed via the Scottish Government website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Planning/Publications
4. VACANT LAND DISTRIBUTION: CANAL WARD AREA
4.1 Vacant and derelict land occurs most significantly in the east and the north of the City. Ward 16 (Canal) contains 100 individual sites amounting to
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138.85 hectares of Vacant and Derelict Land as defined under criteria used by the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey 2012.
4.2 This equates to 11.24% of the vacant and derelict land in the city and is the second highest ward in terms of amount of vacant and derelict land (North East Ward with almost 19% being the highest).
4.3 It is the second highest ward in terms of number of individual vacant and derelict sites with 10.97% of the sites in the City (North East again the highest with 12.73%). The total Canal Ward area is 831.56 ha. This means that Canal Ward has the highest concentration at 17% of the Ward is vacant and/or derelict.
4.4 Canal Ward has some of the largest vacant/derelict sites in the City:
x Cowlairs/Possilpark (19.88 ha) 5th largest site. x Ruchill Hospital (16.66 ha) 6th largest site.
4.5 Ownership of vacant and derelict land within the Canal Ward area is as follows:
x Glasgow City Council owns 49 sites, extending to 75.06 hectares x City Council jointly owns 5 sites extending to 9.42 hectares x *Remaining sites owned ‘privately’ (including Glasgow Housing Association, British Waterways and Scottish Enterprise land) total 54.37 hectares
*The survey does not hold details of specific private ownerships
4.6 Appendix 3 attached shows a map of site ownership within the Canal Ward
5. Physical Regeneration Activity in Canal Ward
5.1 There are three main clusters of vacant and derelict land located in the Canal Ward:
x Forth & Clyde Canal Corridor x Ruchill/Keppoch New Neighbourhood x Milton
5.2 There are a small number of vacant sites also in the Canal Ward which fall outwith the three main clusters of vacant land.
5.3 In respect of the Canal Ward the City Council and its partners are progressing initiatives in three key regeneration areas:
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5.4 Forth & Clyde Canal Corridor Since 2004 the Glasgow Canal Partnership, involving the City Council, British Waterways and ISIS Waterside Regeneration Limited, has led the regeneration effort within the Canal Corridor, focusing on the re-use and redevelopment of areas formerly occupied by industry. Development has been guided by the Forth and Clyde Canal Local Development Strategy (LDS) (approved March 2007). The LDS identifies several locations where forward planning activity would assist the delivery of key canal development hubs:
x Maryhill Transformational Regeneration Area (TRA) (Botany and Collina Street) and Speirs Locks - although both areas lie outside the Canal Ward area, developments at these locations contribute to the physical regeneration of the Canal Corridor and provide wider benefits for communities including those in the Canal Ward. Maryhill TRA is on of 8 priority regeneration areas in the city. Transforming Communities: Glasgow is a partnership between Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Housing Association and Scottish Government and has worked to deliver and progress the Maryhill TRA. Masterplans for Maryhill and Speirs Locks were approved by the City Council in December 2008 and work is ongoing to deliver these plans. In Maryhill the Phase 1 Botany housing is complete, Phase 2 Collina Street is under construction and the Phase 3 Botany Whitelaw Street development scheme is under consideration. In Speirs Locks several major cultural ventures (e.g. Scottish Opera and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) have successfully embedded themselves in the area, helping stimulate the emergence of a new cultural quarter at Speirs Locks. The re- use of the Whisky Bond as a sculpture studio and offices and the proposed National Theatre for Scotland development at Craighall Road will further strengthen the artistic and cultural hub at Speirs Locks.
x Port Dundas/ Pinkston Basin - the construction of the new Paddlesports Centre at Pinkston Basin highlights the area’s rebirth as a water sports activity hub of city-wide and regional importance. The vacant former Diageo site at Dundashill presents a major redevelopment opportunity and work is ongoing among the Canal Partnership agencies to form a vision for the evolution of the Dundashill/ Port Dundas area into a key leisure, commercial and mixed use district with good functional and transport links to the City Centre, Speirs Locks, Sighthill and Glasgow North.
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x Applecross Basin – Scottish Canals has delivered some recent environmental improvements at Applecross Basin, in preparation for the short-to-medium term development of a commercial leisure hub at this location.
x Firhill Basin – partly due to low market demand, proposals at this location have not greatly advanced to date. More positively there are indications that the owners of Firhill Stadium are looking to refresh their development ambitions for the area. In time this may create a new impetus for planning and development activity at Firhill Basin.
x Maryhill Town Centre –although situated outwith the Canal Ward the re-emergence of Maryhill Burgh Halls as a community facility has stimulated town centre investment – including the public realm improvements at Garbraid Avenue – and provided benefits for Canal ward residents
5.5 Ruchill/Keppoch New Neighbourhood A Local Development Strategy was adopted for Ruchill/Keppoch in 2005 and various key sites were identified in the LDS for redevelopment. Due to the economic downturn, progress stalled with the two main development sites at Ruchill Hospital and Cowlairs. The City Council continues to assist Scottish Enterprise with its fresh plans to market the hospital site and is working with City Property to further examine the Cowlairs site’s development potential in light of current market conditions. The City Council has also worked closely with Jobs and Business Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to support the new Saracen House Business Centre and Possilpark Health Centre currently under construction at Saracen Street and due to complete by the end of 2013. As part of the development new high quality public realm space will be created and this will be further complemented by the DRS-led Saracen Street Public Realm Improvements (Phase 1) project due to be delivered on site over November 2013-April 2014.
5.6 Milton In Milton, due to the lack of developer demand, there has been no overall initiative put in place to take forward the neighbourhood’s vacant sites. Instead, the City Council is progressing a more targeted strategy at Milton. This includes supporting Love Milton in their phased development of a new Community Facility and Place of Worship on vacant land at Skerray Street/ Cathay Street (both the Little Build and the Big Build) and also supporting North Glasgow Community Food Initiative’s Community Garden project at Liddesdale Square. DRS has also led on stalled space improvements with the tree-planting project to improve the Liddesdale Road vacant sites. It is hoped that these developments will help improve
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the amenity of surrounding areas and help to stimulate development interest more generally in Milton.
5.7 City Property The remit for City Property in dealing with vacant land is to treat it as any other surplus property / land – in that it is an asset to Glasgow City Council. In turn, these surplus assets are disposed of in order to deliver Capital Receipts for the council. When City Property are handed over ‘surplus’ assets, they are working to achieve the best possible return (capital receipt) for the council. This involves an extensive marketing and promotional campaign for each site through their website. In some circumstances there may be scope for a developer to hold licence to a property for a specified time period prior to construction/development on site. The asset would then be sold to the developer at the end of the licence period. This licence would only ever be issued where there is an agreement on the future sale of the asset to the developer.
6. COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR STALLED SPACES
6.1 Many of the vacant sites may have plans for future development, however this can be anywhere from one to over ten years until development is scheduled to begin. This project delivers an innovative approach to dealing with issues relating to poor environmental conditions that have become more prevalent due to economic downturn. The project focuses on the temporary use of vacant land, under utilised open space and sites earmarked for development though stalled. This project recognises the opportunities available to use unproductive vacant land on a temporary basis to deliver a range of innovative projects that would benefit local communities.
6.2 Glasgow City Council in partnership with Glasgow Housing Association run a scheme to assist community groups/organisations to utilise and regenerate land within their communities which currently has no function. Assistance is available ranging from a minimum of £1,000 to a maximum of £2,500. Proposals should follow the criteria as laid out on in the links below in relation to current status and may include the following: x Land earmarked for development though delayed e.g. economic circumstances. x Vacant/Derelict Land x Open space - yet undeveloped
6.3 In 2011/12 49 projects were awarded a total of £74,531 through the scheme. The Canal Ward received 23% of this awarded funding with 7
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projects awarded funding, totalling £17,499. Table 1 details these projects
Table 1: Community Support for Stalled Spaces Awards 2011/12
Name of Organisation Funding Priority Area Ward Amount Round Awarded St Matthew's concrete Apr-11 Ruchill / Possilpark Canal 2500 Garden Friends of PossilPark - Apr-11 Canal 2500 Meadow Ruchill / Possilpark Lambhill Community Apr-11 Lambhill / Milton Canal 2500 Council Lambhill Stables Apr-11 Lambhill / Milton Canal 2500 Friends of Possilpark Apr-11 Ruchill / Possilpark Canal 2499 Greenspace N Glasgow Community Apr-11 Lambhill / Milton Canal 2500 Food Initiative Community Central hall Apr-11 Kelvindale / Canal 2500 Kelvinside
7. CONCLUSIONS
7.1 The Canal Ward area suffers from a particularly high concentration of vacant and derelict land and includes a number of vacant properties. A wide range of initiatives are in place or about to commence which should begin to tackle these sites.
7.2 Progress is already underway within the Forth and Clyde Canal Corridor due to the efforts of the Glasgow Canal Partnerships and Transforming Communities: Glasgow.
7.3 Glasgow City Council’s Development and Regeneration Services are leading on the Ruchill/Keppoch New Neighbourhood Initiative and progress has been made in Saracen Street Public Realm. Progress is also underway in Milton due to a targeted phased regeneration approach
7.4 The community may have a role to play either in instigating proposals of their own, or through participation in area regeneration initiatives.
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8. COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLAN IMPLICATIONS
Economic Impact: Vacant and derelict land has a blighting effect on investment in the City. A targeted regeneration programme bringing this land back in to use has a direct positive impact on delivery of economic development. Sustainability: Re-use of brownfield land and remediation of contamination contribute positively to sustainability.
Financial: None
Legal: None
Personnel: None
Sustainable Procurement None and Article 19:
9. RECOMMENDATIONS
That Committee notes the content of the report
Development and Regeneration Services HD/PF. October 2013
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