Research and reports

Delivering Greater Benefits from Common Good Land and Buildings

Common Good assets in Scotland have the potential to deliver much greater public benefit than they do currently, according to this research report written for the Scottish Land Commission by researchers at the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES).

A Review of Funding Sources for the Re-use of Vacant and Derelict Land

Scotland currently has 11,649 hectares of vacant and derelict land across c. 3,731 sites. It is a large, diverse and hugely fragmented volume of land but has the potential to create long term regeneration and renewal – unlocking economic growth, reviving communities, increasing community empowerment and reducing inequalities and restoring environments.

Vacant and Derelict Land in Scotland: Assessing the Impact of Vacant and Derelict Land on Communities

This report explores the harmful effects of vacant and derelict land (VDL) on communities and proposes an analytical framework which could be used by local authorities to assess the harmful impact of VDL sites.

Young People and their Local Urban Areas

Young Scot and Scottish Land Commission established a partnership to explore how young people understand, perceive and have a connection with their local urban areas. This partnership used a co-design approach to explore insights from a broad range of young people about land and buildings in cities and towns.

Land and Communities: Beyond the Echo Chambers

This report is the result of a collaboration between Scotland's Regeneration Forum (SURF) and the Scottish Land Commission (SLC) to consider the practical potential for realising the Scottish Government's vision of a strong and dynamic relationship between Scotland's land and its people. In particular, the Commission sought to engage SURF's experience and networks to explore assets and challenges; and varied partner perspectives in the interlinked complexity of the urban context.

Land Focus: Common Good Land

Scotland's Common Good Funds are worth hundreds of millions of pounds. The Scottish Government has asked the Land Commission to look at how greater benefit could be delivered for communities through the Common Good.

Vacant and Derelict Land Task Force: Phase one report

This Phase One report, undertaken by Ryden, provides a foundation document for the Task Force and its partner organisations. It recognises Scotland’s substantial expertise and successes in dealing with vacant and derelict sites, while examining the challenges and potential to accelerate their productive re-use.

Land Lines: The delivery of public interest led development in Scotland

This, the second paper in the Land Lines series, Steven Tolson and Archie Rintoul look at the approaches adopted to achieve public interest led development in Scotland.

An assessment of historic attempts to capture land value uplift in the UK

Heriot Watt University was commissioned to review the UK's historic experience of land value capture and identify what lessons current policy makers could take from this experience.

Land Focus: Land Value Capture

This briefing paper looks at land value capture, what it is and the Land Commission's work.

Compulsory Sales Orders: A proposal from the Scottish Land Commission

A new Compulsory Sales Order (CSO) power could tackle the blight of abandoned buildings and parcels of vacant and derelict land in town centres and communities across Scotland.

Land Focus: Land Value Tax Briefing Paper

Land values have increased more than 450% since 1995, outstripping the growth of assets on the land by a considerable margin. This has led many people to question how the benefits from increasing land values are distributed – and whether more needs to be done to ensure that the gains from rising land value benefit society as a whole.