The James Hutton Institute
This page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
THE STATE OF SCOTLAND'S FARMED ENVIRONMENT 2005
12. DEVELOPMENT DIVERSIFICATION AND LAND USE CHANGE INCLUDING ENERGY CROPS
URBANISATION
The bulk of agricultural land loss up to 1988 was to forestry. However, the area of built-up land in Scotland increased by 46% between 1946 and 1988. This was highly selective and mainly on improved grassland and arable farmland (Mackey et al., 1998). By 1996, 2.6% of Scotland ’s land area (2,056km 2) was classified as urban. There has been a significant change in the number of households in Scotland : between 1981 and 1999 there was an 18% rise (332,000) despite a falling overall Scottish population. Projections suggest that by 2012 there will be a further 12% increase. This suggests that there will be continued pressure for the development of green field sites particularly around existing settlements.
LAND ABANDONMENT
Over the past 200 years industrial development has produced over 11,500ha of vacant and derelict land comprising over 5,000 individual sites predominantly within the Central Belt areas of North Lanarkshire , West Lothian and the City of Glasgow (Scottish Executive, 2000a). The principal former use of vacant land is agriculture and of derelict land it is mineral extraction. The most common new use of vacant land is for housing. Under the Pollution Prevention and Control ( Scotland ) Act 1999, regulated industries are required to return sites to their original condition once their activities have ceased. This should prevent the creation of further derelict land. It is also possible that some reclaimed sites may be used for growing biomass energy crops such as short rotation coppice. This is currently being pioneered by Scottish Coal.
LAND USE CHANGES AND HABITAT LOSSES >>