The Scottish Land Commission has announced March as Land Reuse Month, which will focus on the 'how to' of tackling Scotland's legacy of vacant and derelict land (VDL).

Scotland has almost 11,000 hectares of vacant and derelict urban land – an area roughly twice the size of the city of Dundee – and almost one-third of its 5.4 million population lives within 500 metres of a derelict site. These disused sites can cause significant harm to communities, ranging from negative impacts on mental and physical health to anti-social behaviour and safety concerns.

However, there is an opportunity for these sites to be transformed into assets that provide real benefit to local communities, including much-needed greenspace for health and wellbeing, growing spaces, community facilities, and housing and business use.

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Green Action Trust has a long association with remediating despoiled environments across central Scotland. Highly successful projects such as the Wishawhill Wood Pumptrack have repurposed former derelict land and our team continues to develop and deliver projects with a range of partners, with several projects currently in progress utilising funding from the Scottish Government's Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme. Having a month-long focus on VDL is very much welcomed by the Trust and we would encourage anyone with an interest in this important area to check out the events coming up.

Local authority and other public sector employees are invited to take part in four online seminars attended by Scottish Government Ministers, civil servants, environmental groups, community ownership specialists, land and planning experts, housing advisors and academics.

The sessions will be held virtually on the first four Thursdays in March and will encourage delegates to understand the opportunities in transforming derelict land, to collaborate with communities and other cross-sector organisations involved, develop relevant strategies, and how to help stem the flow of abandoned and derelict land.

For more details and to sign up, visit the Scottish Land Commission's events page.