The Home Office has announced plans to close Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre and build a new detention facility in Glasgow.

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 Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre, which is housed around a 19th-century hunting lodge and summer retreat of the Duke of Hamilton, is a UK government facility for detaining refugees and failed asylum seekers prior to deportation. The centre is currently under-used due to its remote location.

Announcing its proposals on Thursday, the UK government said replacing Dungavel with a secure centre is part of a strategy for a “more efficient and cost effective detention estate”.

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 would need approval from Renfrewshire Council and would have 51 beds.

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