The UK Government publishes annual statistics relating to the number, size and value of commercial and industrial premises in England, and has done so since 1998 (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister [ODPM], 2006a). These statistics break down the non-domestic building stock into its principal land uses and geographical locations. There has been growing political interest in monitoring the amount of vacant non-domestic building stock and measuring the number, size and value of such premises both in absolute terms and also as a proportion of total stock. The interest arises because vacant property is a useful indicator of urban change and represents a resource that may require government intervention to encourage reuse. Nearly 20 years ago the Government confirmed that an 'up to date or even accurate figure of the national stock of vacant land is not available-whether presented on its own or in comparison with the stock of used land' (Department of the Environment, 1988). Recording the location and characteristics of vacant buildings was regarded as more problematic than doing so for vacant land and was only seriously considered when the re-use of brownfield (or, more accurately, previously developed land) became a central tenet of Government policy in the early part of this century (ODPM, 2005c).
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