Detailed plans to empower local officials to bring empty buildings and vacant and derelict land back into use have been laid out.

The Scottish Land Commission (SLC) outlined proposals for a new legal power called a compulsory sales order (CSO) in a report published on Thursday.

This new type of order could be applied to buildings and sites left vacant or derelict "for an undue period of time", detrimentally impacting the surrounding communities, the report suggests.

The new power would differ from existing measures, such as compulsory purchase orders, which require the proposing council to put plan to be in place for the land.

A compulsory sales order would see local authorities ordering the return of land and buildings and then auctioning them to bidders willing to put them to productive use.

Creating this new measure within the course of this parliament was an SNP manifesto pledge in 2016, which then prompted the establishment of the SLC.

Official data shows Scotland has around 11,600 hectares of land either vacant, derelict or both - twice the size of Dundee.

In cities, nearly three quarters of this is privately owned.

There were also around 37,000 homes in Scotland left empty for six months or longer in 2017, an increase of more than 80% on a decade ago.

Those figures do not include second homes of properties exempt from council tax.

The SLC report foresees the proposed CSOs applying to empty homes, as well as small gap sites and derelict commercial buildings.

It suggests councils should identify potential CSO sites and proposes giving community groups the ability to ask planning authorities to investigate sites for such an order.

As CSOs involve the state interfering with an individual's private property rights, the report stresses the need for planning authorities to build a strong case for enforcing the order.

The SLC foresees previous enforcement action, nuisance reports and local campaigns being used in support of these cases.

Further proposals include conditions requiring buyers of land via the CSO process to bring the site back into productive use by a set date.

If these conditions are not met, the local authority in question should have the right to buy the site, says the report.

Commissioner David Adams said: "CSOs could be part of a tool kit to bring unused land - especially small parcels of land that have lain unused and unloved, in our city and town centres - back in to productive use.

"Such sites often act as magnets for crime and anti-social behaviour.

"This damages quality of life for existing residents and can act as a deterrent for inward investment, making it more difficult to bring about long-term regeneration and renewal."

The commission envisages the orders being used only as a last resort, he added.