MASSIVE regeneration work has begun at the run-down Bow Farm estate.

Bulldozers and diggers moved in to tear down houses and flats which had lain derelict for more than a year and fallen into disrepair.

Workmen will spend the next month clearing several sites during the £500,000 demolition.

And council bosses are currently working out what will be done with the site when work is complete.

Building control officer Russell Smith said: `Work should be complete by the end of next month, and the first tower block is due to come down on the seventh of March.

`This is work comes out of the regeneration fund and a similar thing is happening in Woodhall in Port Glasgow.

`Discussions are ongoing over whether Bow Farm will be allowed to return to open space or woodland or whether more housing will be built here.` The work will see the demolition houses from 21 to 23 Tweed Street, 1 to 65 Ness Road and the Pentland, Grampian and Nevis tower blocks.

Residents on the estate say they are delighted work has finally begun. Mary Gordon (69) moved from one of the tower blocks into a semi-detached home in Bow Farm a decade ago.

She said: `The tower blocks are a mess and an eyesore so I'm glad to see them coming down.

`It used to be lovely round here but there were a lot of people who would not clean their closes and they just started getting vandalised.

'This will give the area a new lease of life.`