Keynote Address The development of marginal and derelict land viewed in a Scottish context

In Britain for several decades, successive governments have recognised that we must have policies for tackling the problem of derelict land. This is an essential ingredient of our regional policies, designed to correct imbalances between the old industrial North and West of Britain and the more prosperous South East, so as to bring the underused resources of the North and West (including Scotland) more fully into use. Over the past decade or more, this regional concern has been overlain by the equally important need to tackle the problem of underused inner city areas. The inner cities with the severest problems are, in many instances, situated within the underdeveloped regions, as is the case with Glasgow. However, problems of urban decay and dereliction have existed also within the South East, as was recognised with the creation of the London Docklands Development Corporation. In Scotland, since 1975, responsibility for tackling the problems of dereliction, in both regional and urban contexts (and indeed in the rural context), has lain with the Scottish Development Agency (SDA).