The site of a former house owned by the City of Hamilton is to become a nursery for baby trees.

Work has started to turn the Par-la-Ville Road site into a mini-forest for young trees that will be transplanted to other sites around the City when they are tall enough.

A spokeswoman for the City added that park benches would also be installed to create “a parkette” for public use.

The nursery, expected to hold up to 20 saplings, and park are expected to be completed by the middle of April.

The site, near the junction with Dundonald Street, became vacant after a City-owned cottage and the rock outcrop it stood on were levelled in October 2016.

The crumbling cottage had suffered severe damage by hurricanes Fay and Gonzalo in 2014.

Ian Hind, senior engineer for the City, said at the time that there were no plans to develop the site.

He added: “It was taken down for safety reasons and because of the condition of the building.

“What will happen hasn’t been decided but there are plenty of options.

“We could make it a green space or extra bike parking spaces or car parking.”