​Stop Detention in Scotland intends to protest outside the next Renfrewshire Council planning meeting

Campaigners have organised a protest against a proposal to build a new refugee detention centre next to Glasgow Airport.

The Stop Detention in Scotland pressure group plans to demonstrate at the next meeting of the Renfrewshire Council planning committee at Renfrewshire House, Paisley on 8 November.

Councillors there will decide if the 51-bed, short-stay centre proposed by the Home Office gets the go ahead or they could choose to defer a decision to be made by the full council at a meeting in December.

We will show our anger at this plan, and call for the council to reject it.

The group is vehemently against the centre which they have deemed the “new Dungavel”.

A spokesperson for the group said: "After the decision to close Dungavel, the Home Office announced the building of a new “rapid removal centre” near Glasgow Airport in Paisley with a “7 day turnaround” for those detained.

“This means people detained in Scotland will likely be transferred to other UK removal centres, far from their families, friends, legal advisors and support networks, or simply removed via a London airport.

“It will be much more difficult for those detained in Scotland to exercise their right to appeal and to properly challenge their deportation.

"We will show our anger at this plan, and call for the council to reject it. No detention in Scotland, no one is illegal."

The group has already been drumming up support in the Paisley community by handing out flyers, and it has created a website to gain support from further afield.

Up until now most of its efforts have been geared towards getting people to submit comments to Renfrewshire Council regarding the planning application with the local authority’s planning website showing that 179 have been submitted.

Objections can still be sent to Renfrewshire Council via its website.