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Removal and Addition of Sites. The means by which new sites are detected are largely centred on the expert knowledge of local authority planning officers. It is very important to note that Table 15, which shows new sites added since the previous survey, show only entirely new sites. Sites which have increased in size since the previous year are not shown. Similarly, when part of a site is brought back into use, that part is detailed in the ‘B’ data set, and the part not brought back into use remains in the survey ‘A’ data set.
Changes in Site Details. Changes in site details can also cause other difficulties in interpreting the data. The most notable are when two separate sites become joined by the inclusion of a further piece of vacant or derelict land, and alternatively when a single site has a central area brought back into use, such that the remaining disused area does not form a single contiguous site. The first of these scenarios is the most awkward from a statistical viewpoint, as data regarding previous use etc. for both sites are unlikely to be compatible. Where this happens, details from the largest contributing site are used to describe the new, compound site.
Definition of Contamination. The SVDLS bulletin reports on sites which are available for re-use, and as such contamination is defined in terms of its potential impact on development, either as a direct result of the contamination itself or through the costs of remediation prior to re-development. This differs considerably from the definition of contamination set out in Part IIA (Contaminated Land) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which refers to land causing a threat to human health or the wider environment. It seems likely that all derelict sites which are contaminated under the Part IIA definition should also be regarded as contaminated under the SVDLS definition, but not necessarily vice versa. Another issue lies in the measurement of contaminated land, in that it can only be confirmed to be contaminated after it has been tested. Although this is obvious, it implies that the amount of recorded contaminated land bears a direct relationship with the amount tested for contamination, and as such the availability of resources for testing might have a strong influence on the data presented.
Ownership. Details of ownership are not always readily available to local authorities, and this is reflected by the large amount of land of ‘Unknown’ ownership shown in Table 5. Annex Chart A illustrates the relationship between unknown ownership and the length of time sites have lain vacant or derelict. Each column represents the percentage of all sites in that category for which ownership is unknown. Using the percentage values gives a clearer picture of the extent of the problem by standardising the ‘number’ of sites in each age category.
Annex Chart A: Percentage of sites where principal owner is unknown by period since which they have lain vacant or derelict, 2000
Previous Use and Length of Time Vacant or Derelict. Knowledge of the use to which a site was formerly put is important in assessing it for potential contamination. The triple of previous, intended and actual usages of reclaimed derelict land and vacant land brought back into use is also important in determining the success of local plans. In order to carry this assessment through, it is necessary to have information about the previous use of sites. However, there appears to be a relationship between the length of time a site has been vacant or derelict and the information available about its previous use, as shown in Annex Chart B. For each time period, the percentage of sites for which there is no available information about previous use is given. The longer a site has been disused, the less likely is the possession of information about its previous use. The exception to this is in the very oldest class of sites, which is also the single largest class, containing 1,323 sites out of a total of 4,920.
Annex Chart B: Percentage of sites where previous use is unknown by period since which they have lain vacant or derelict, 2000
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