Plans have been unveiled for the new immigration detention centre next to Glasgow Airport.

The Home Office intends to build a "short-term holding facility" on Abbotsinch Road to house those awaiting removal from the country. 

The move follows the announcement last month that the controversial Dungavel removal centre in Lanarkshire is set to close in 2017.

The plans are currently being considered by Renfrewshire Council.

If plans are approved, the new building would be constructed on a former British Airways social club and feature 20 bedrooms and ancillary accommodation over two floors.

The accommodation, which would be encircled by a 3.6m fence, would feature 12 bedrooms for male detainees and five for females.

Plans also include two bedrooms for those classed as vulnerable and one for a disabled person.

UK Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill said the facility would provide easy access to London airports.

Dungavel House, the only such centre in Scotland, holds up to 249 detainees but is said to be under used because of its remote location.

Last year HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) found that one resident had been held at Dungavel for two-and-a-half years.

Inspectors also highlighted concerns that vulnerable people, including alleged rape and torture victims, were being detained, despite a presumption they should be locked up only in exceptional circumstances.

An independent report published earlier this year said that the length of time people were being held was causing their mental health to deteriorate and warned of unacceptable accommodation as well as long waits to see a GP or dentist.