IT will sit on the site of a former social club on an industrial estate, screened from public view by trees and a near-12 foot fence.

Detailed plans for the new 20- bedroom immigration detention centre set to replace the controversial Dungavel facility have now been published as the Home Office asks a Scottish council for permission to build.

The documents outline plans to create the purpose-built facility on land near Glasgow Airport. The space, currently derelict, was once occupied by the Clansman Club, the former social club of British Airways.

Covering 0.7 hectares, the space is just outside the Glasgow Airport boundary, with Abbotsinch Road on one side and the White Cart Water on the other.

The quiet road, near the communities of Renfrew, Inchinnan and Paisley, is normally used by office workers and delivery trucks heading to premises neighbouring the site but – if Renfrewshire Council approves the Home Office plan – will it soon be used to transfer failed asylum seekers to the new centre, prior to their removal from the UK.

The government chose the site because of its proximity to the airport, which will make removals easier.

Until now, those who do not meet immigration criteria, including families, have been detained at Dungavel in South Lanarkshire, which was once a hunting lodge.

That facility, which became an immigration removal centre in 2001, has capacity for 249 people but has been the subject of critical reports and public protests. It is now earmarked for closure at the end of next year.

The new plan, drawn up by contractor Grove Developments, includes just 51 beds in one-, two- and four-person rooms.

Meanwhile, 68 parking spaces for staff, visitors, legal teams and up to seven “transport vehicles” will be created outside, with the site surrounded by heavy security features.

The design document says new sliding security gates will be installed “well back” from the carriageway. It adds: “It is the intention to provide a 3.6 metre high green coloured metal palisade fence to all four boundaries to the site. There will be a secured landscaped exercise yard to the rear of the building and a small secure fire escape yard to the front.”

The building – which includes 12 male bedrooms, five for females, two for “vulnerable persons” and one disabled room – will also have a faith room, with effort taken to ensure enough daylight enters the interior that “occupants will have a true sense of day and night”.

The paper adds: “The facility ... employs a ‘robust’ form of construction similar to that used by the Ministry of Justice in the custodial sector.”

A Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said: “The planning application for this proposed facility is now available on the council website and is about to go through the statutory publicity and consultation process. The application will be considered in due course by the council’s Planning and Property Policy Board. It is too early to say when that will be.”

The local authority initially learned of the plan through the media when the Home Office made its announcement at the start of September.

The issue was discussed at a meeting on Thursday. Council leader Mark Macmillan told The National: “I was able to advise the council meeting that the Home Office had written to me and apologised for the way in which the council heard of its plans.

“The Home Office have also said the existing immigration removal facility at Dungavel would not close prior to the consideration of the planning application for the proposed facility in Renfrewshire.

“Clearly, there will be a detailed planning application to decide on in due course.

“We will take cognisance of human rights and other relevant issues and will seek the views of a wide number of stakeholders before any planning application is considered.”

Robina Qureshi of refugee and migrant homelessness charity Positive Action In Housing has raised concerns about the new facility, saying it will make it “harder for lawyers and support networks to organise appeals” for people who are detained.

Dr Lisa Doyle of the Refugee Council said the UK Government “should focus on phasing out the costly and cruel detention of asylum seekers completely” instead of building a new facility.

Last night the Home Office reiterated comments made by Tory immigration minister Robert Goodwill, who 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 eventually result in a significant saving for the public purse.”