Home Office silence on Dungavel site is ‘significant’ says Scottish Refugee Council

Proposals for a new, purpose-built immigration detention centre were voted down by Renfrewshire Council on Tuesday.

If passed, the two-storey site would have replaced ageing Dungavel in South Lanarkshire, where inspectors have criticised facilities.

The Home Office plan would have seen Dungavel close when construction at the Glasgow Airport site ended, with detainees being transferred there for onward travel to London and out of the UK.

However, councillors branded it a “rendition centre” and said the proposal did not meet local criteria.

After the decision, the Home Office would not say whether or not it will appeal and yesterday officials declined to answer questions from The National about the implications for Dungavel, the only facility of its kind in Scotland.

This includes whether detention will continue there in the long term, or if other proposals for a replacement will be drawn up instead.

A spokesperson said: “We are considering our next steps.”

Westminster famously said it would not prepare plans for the possibility of Scottish independence in the run-up to the 2014 referendum, and has been repeatedly criticised in recent months for failing to ready a Brexit strategy.

Yesterday, Gary Christie, head of policy at the Scottish Refugee Council, said the UK Government must make its position on this matter clear.

He told The National: “It’s time for a fundamental re-think of immigration detention right across the UK. While the Home Office considers their next steps we hope they will see this as an opportunity to work with partners in Scotland to develop humane and sensible alternatives to detention.

“Too many people are needlessly locked up as a result of poor decision-making and bureaucratic delays by the Home Office. We need to see much better decision-making on immigration cases and a willingness from the Home Office to work with people at an earlier stage – while still in the community – to resolve their immigration status.

“We also need clarity from the Home Office on their plans for closing Dungavel.”

A former hunting lodge and open prison, Dungavel, which holds about 200 people, was taken over by the Home Office in 2000 and operations began there the following year.

Those detained can be kept there indefinitely, and the case of ten-year-old Precious Mhango and her mother Florence caused national outcry when they were held at the site in 2009. Child detention at the Strathaven site was later ended, but campaigners said facilities at the rejected short-term holding centre would have allowed this to resume.

Under the scheme, those held in the 50-bed replacement would stay for just one week before being flown away, which campaigners said would cut them off from family, community and legal support.

Officials said the new set-up would save money and make the removals process more efficient, with detainees kept in better conditions. Architects had included measures in the plans to maximise daylight in the centre, which was to employ a “robust means of construction similar to that used by the Ministry of Justice in the custodial sector”.

Polly Urquhart, of Glasgow-based refugee and asylum charity Unity, said “silence” from the Home Office on their next steps is “significant”.

She said: “I assume they have a back-up plan. This win makes it clear that the community pressure in Scotland is not going to allow their plans any more. They are having to consider that now.

“Blocking the new facility is our way of saying that we don’t need detention in Scotland. We are prepared to protest this at every corner.”

Scottish ministers reserved their “right to intervene” in the application before the vote. Yesterday, the Scottish Government said: “We have long campaigned for 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.

“Asylum seekers, many of whom have endured great hardship and are particularly vulnerable, should be treated with dignity and respect at all stages of the asylum process and supported and integrated into our communities from day one.”

Repeating a previous statement, the Home Office said: “We are disappointed by the decision of the planning committee.

“A new short-term holding facility in Scotland would provide a modern and secure facility for those with no right to be in the UK and would allow for the closure of Dungavel immigration removal centre.”