The Home Office has announced plans to close Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre and open a new detention facility near Glasgow Airport.

The centre, near Strathaven in South Lanarkshire, is due to be closed towards the end of 2017 pending a successful planning application to build a new short-term holding facility near Glasgow Airport.

The UK Government announced its proposals on Thursday. It said replacing Dungavel with a secure centre is part of a strategy for a "more efficient and cost effective detention estate".

It said the detention centre, which has been the at the centre of controversy for a number of years, is currently under-used due to its remote location.

The facility, which is the only one of its kind in Scotland, was opened in 2001 and holds up to 249 detainees.

Immigration minister Robert Goodwill said: "We keep our detention estate under constant review to ensure we have the right resources in the right places.

"The new short-term holding facility would provide easy access to London airports, from where most removals take place, meaning those with no right to be in the UK can be removed with less delay.

"Closing Dungavel immigration removal centre as a consequence fits with that approach and will result in a significant saving for the public purse."

The proposed short term facility in Abbotsinch Road beside Glasgow Airport need approval from Renfrewshire Council and would have 51 beds.

It would be used to accommodate people detained during immigration enforcement operations.

The vast majority of stays would be used for "considerably less than seven days", the Home Office said.

Dungavel is expected to close within a few months of the new facility opening next year.

In May hundreds of campaigners joined a protest calling for its closure over its continued use for detaining asylum seekers and migrants awaiting deportation.

Last year calls were also made for an urgent visit to the facility amid widespread fears some detainees were on hunger strike.

However, a spokeswoman for the Home Office responded at the time saying attendance at set meals at Dungavel was at "standard levels".

The centre has long-been a political issue, with MSPs demanding an end to the detention of children at the centre.

It led to a 2010 Westminster review which decided families detained north of the border would be moved to Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire which has specialist family and child facilities and support services.

In 2005, on the eve of the G8 summit held at Gleneagles, the facility was the site of a large protest over detaining asylum seekers and migrants.

Positive Action in Housing, the refugee and migrant homelessness charity, welcomed the Home Office announcement.

Director Robina Qureshi said: "We say good riddance to Dungavel, which was nothing more than a scar imposed by the Westminster government on Scottish soil.

"Thanks must go to the Scottish Detainee Visitors and the Ayrshire Friends of Refugees who consistently down the years offered support and solidarity to refugees detained there. However, we remain concerned about what happens next to refugees detained in Scotland."

She added: "We remain concerned about what happens next. A short term holding facility will be built at Glasgow Airport making it easier to remove people to London airports from where most removals take place. It will be harder for lawyers and support networks to organise appeals at the eleventh hour. "

Grahame Smith, the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, also welcomed the move.

He said: "The Dungavel detention centre has for too long been a symbol of all that is wrong in our immigration system and we welcome the Home Office decision today to close it.

"The closure of Dungavel is welcome but without a fundamental change within the system many of the problems of destitution, improper questioning and indeed unfair removals will continue unabated.

"While we welcome the decision to close the detention centre it is important to remember the staff who worked hard, under challenging circumstances, to provide the best outcomes within a broken system. It is important that the skills of these workers are valued and that they are supported into new roles"

Angela Constance, cabinet secretary for communities, social security and equalities, said: "The Scottish Government has long campaigned for the replacement of Dungavel with a more humane system, however by introducing a rapid removal facility there is a real risk that people who have been living in Scotland will either have their opportunities to challenge their deportation restricted or be taken to immigration removal centres far away from their families, friends and legal representation.

"This move could make it considerably more difficult for them to pursue their cases and have serious impacts on their mental health. We will be seeking urgent clarification from the UK Government on their proposals and guarantees around the way in which asylum seekers based in Scotland facing deportation will be treated."