Plans for Dungavel replacement unanimously rejected

Plans to construct a new detention centre for immigrants near Glasgow Airport have been rejected by councillors.

The Home Office wanted a new 51-bed “short-term holding facility” in Abbotsinch Road for those awaiting removal.

It was proposed after the closure of the Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in Lanarkshire was announced.

But almost 300 letters of objection were sent to Renfrewshire Council over the proposed new site, permission for which councillors unanimously refused.

They said it would be “detrimental to the economic development of the Glasgow Airport Investment Area”.

Campaign group Stop Detention in Scotland welcomed the decision saying: “Today we won in Paisley, and we won’t stop until all detention centres are closed!.

West of Scotland MSP Ross Greer, who campaigned outside Renfrewshire Council last year prior to the initial decision, said: “I’m glad to have stood with campaigners against detention centres, new or old.

“Regardless of this decision though, refugees and immigrants were always going to be the losers while immigration policy is decided at Westminster.

“The UK government must begin treating vulnerable people with dignity and respect and not like criminals, but given that this is the same Home Office which paid for disgusting billboards telling refugees and immigrants to ‘go home’ and which regularly deports people back to situations where they are in clear danger, I wouldn’t hold my breath.”