Scottish high streets faring best in 'ghost town' Britain

The figures are part of a survey of shop vacancies carried out by the Local Data Company (LDC).

However, while the mean figure may be below the rest of the UK, a breakdown of the Scottish regions shows that areas such as Paisley, Stirling and Falkirk have seen steep rises in empty shop fronts from the end of 2009 to the end of 2010.

In Paisley's case, the 9.2 per cent increase has brought the percentage of empty premises close to a quarter, with 24.3 per cent vacant.

LDC's director Matthew Hopkinson said that the disparity between Scotland and the rest of the UK could be down to a lag in the economic downturn, but said that there had been greater expansion of retail development in England during the boom years.

He added that Scottish Government policies were also helping to shelter town centres: "I think in light of Scottish Government funding and the whole corporate aspect, it's different in terms of taxation.

"You've got the large amount of money that the Scottish Government has put into town centre regeneration - 60 million over two years - something which has not happened down south. So there could be a delayed impact, but I don't think Scotland is as exposed to the issue as the rest of the country."

Mr Hopkinson said, however, that centres such as Paisley were being hit hard by a combination of large out-of-town shopping centres and their proximity to large cities.

But Renfrewshire Council leader, Derek Mackay insisted that Paisley had in place the necessary changes needed to improve the town centre. "Paisley faces some unique challenges given its proximity not only to Glasgow but also the Braehead shopping centre.

"However, we believe that future figures will show significant improvement, and the council, Chamber of Commerce and Paisley Vision Board are working together to take forward a range of approaches which are already proving their worth."

The plans include the refurbishment of existing unused retail premises, the opening of a large Tesco and the construction of new town-centre flats on the site of the old council headquarters.

The survey's figures are calculated over a period of time, counting the number of empty shop premises on a single day. It does not take into account whether the shop is earmarked for a new business or is to be demolished at a later date.

Colin Borland, of the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland, said that the Scottish figures were still worrying. "If 12 per cent are lying vacant, that's still over one in ten. It's possibly not surprising, but it's still a concern."He said that the FSB had been arguing for a more creative approach subdividing large premises into small, cheap business space for commercial use.