The majority of the sites on London Road, Monteith Row and Monteith Place have been cleared of tenements and have been lying vacant for years.

Thenue wants to build new homes on the land but faced problems as the owners were missing or unknown.

But the Evening Times reports that Scottish ministers have now agreed the city council can purchase the land by compulsory purchase orders.

The land will be transferred to the housing association which plans a first phase of 10 homes, a second phase of work which will entail converting the existing Monteith Hotel into six units and a 30-home third phase. It is expected work will start in the next few months.

A spokesman for Thenue Housing Association confirmed to Scottish Housing News: “We are very pleased that something which has been in the pipeline for five or six years will soon be a reality.

“It means we can build new houses in the East End where they are much needed and hope to be doing just that by next summer.”

Monteith Row was built in 1891 on Calton Green and named after then Lord Provost Henry Monteith.

By the 1980s, most of Monteith Row was taken down and all that remains is the Monteith Hotel which provides accommodation for 25 homeless men.