GLASGOW has derelict land equal to the size of more than 1,300 football pitches that could be used for housing or business premises.

The city has the largest concentration of derelict land in Scotland with 783 sites totalling 1,110 hectares.

Most of the vacant plots are concentrated in the north and east of the city in areas of the highest deprivation.

Glasgow City councils owns just under half of the sites and 70% of all empty land has been vacant for more than 15 years.

The council has been given £3.1m from the Scottish Government Vacant and Derelict land fund to get land ready to be used for meaningful purposes.

The council has identified 11 projects to invest in work to improve the land to bring it back into use.

The largest site earmarked is across Drumchapel where almost a quarter of a million pounds will be spent on five sites to create commercial units.

In south Dalmarnock a 6 hectare site will get £800,000 spent to complete drainage works and to create a community greenspace.

A site a Laurieston will see four old commercial units demolished at Eglinton Street and bring other units back into use.

A site at Atlas Industrial estate in Springburn is to be improved to construct new commercial premises.

In a report to councillors Kenny McLean, Glasgow City Council neighbourhoods and housing convenor said: "The complex mix of poor ground conditions, fragmented ownership and inadequate infrastructure relating to many sites that restricts the availability of land ready for development and acts as a brake on the economic potential of the city.”

He added: “The blighting impact of derelict land on local communities, most disproportionately affects those suffering from multiple deprivation.”

The city has reduced the amount of derelict land in recent years but the scale of the problem means there is still a huge amount of land lying unused as a result of housing demolitions and de-industrialisation.

Much of the reduction in derelict land has been down to large scale public regeneration programmes like in the the eight Transformational Regeneration Areasacross the city, providing new housing and also Clyde Gateway work in the east end.

Mr McLean added: “It is clear from the scale of the vacant land problem that, if Glasgow is to continue to remove the blighting effects of dereliction on communities throughout the city and bring land forward for development, continued support from Scottish Government in the form of Vacant and Derelict Land Funding is required.”