THE £1.9m sale of Glasgow’s former Meat Market site to a housing association is set to be approved on Thursday, paving the way for more than 250 flats.

City councillors will be asked to approve the off-market disposal of 3.6 acres of land at Bellgrove Street/Duke Street to Home in Scotland Ltd, a registered housing association.

Conditions of the sale will ensure the site is used solely for housing, after planning permission for 79 one-bedroom flats and 173 two-bedroom flats was granted last month.

The housing association will pay £7500 per unit to the council if it decides to seek planning consent for more flats.

Glasgow City Council’s contracts and property committee will also be asked to support negotiations over the future disposal of 3.9 acres of land on the Meat Market site to Home Group Developments Ltd, which is a private non-charitable company.

“The site would be developed for a mixture of market rent and market sale, providing approximately 150 residential units,” a report to councillors reveals.

“It is anticipated that the adjacent ‘B-listed Shed to the south of the site will be developed through a Community Interest Company or a Community Development Trust led by three local housing associations, providing spaces for community, third-sector and commercial uses to complement residential development.”

A linear park between Bellgrove Street and Melbourne Street will form part of Home Group Developments Ltd’s proposals “enabling a drainage system to function effectively in joining to the Molindinar Burn”.

It has also been designed to create part of a proposed new active travel route from the East End to the city centre, linking Bellgrove to Ingram Street and “promoting inclusion and health benefits”.

The Meat Market was opened in 1878 and ran until 1967 when the Glasgow Corporation decided to build a new abattoir.

It stayed open until 2001 and was finally demolished in 2007.