Council land in Barrhead is set to be leased to Network Rail on a 175-year deal to provide a car park for the new Balgray train station.

Two small pockets of land are also expected to be taken over by Network Rail for a “nominal” fee to allow the £18m development to progress.

Councillors in East Renfrewshire will be asked to approve both deals at a meeting today.

They are set to be completed before a full business case for the station is submitted — with the project expected to be finished by spring 2026.

The new Barrhead South station, to be known as Balgray station, will have two platforms on either side, linked by an overhead pedestrian bridge and lifts.

Council officials have reported the “delivery of a new railway station at Barrhead South, on the Glasgow to Neilston line, will support the new community at Barrhead South and enhance sustainable travel options for existing and new residents".

They added the station would “improves access to jobs and services” and to the Dams to Darnley Country Park. An access road and bus-turning circle has already been completed.

Around £15.7m of the funding for the project is coming from the Glasgow City Region City Deal, a infrastructure programme funded by both the UK and Scottish Government.

East Renfrewshire Council is expected to submit the full business case to the City Region’s programme management offices next month. The remaining £2.6m is being provided by the council.

Just over two hectares of council land has already been transferred to Network Rail, but “two additional small pockets” are also “required to allow construction and operation of the station”.

The 175-year lease is set to be agreed at a ‘peppercorn’ rent of £1 per year if asked.

A council report added: “The lease will incorporate a clause where the council receives a share, to be negotiated, of any future income from any electric vehicle charging spaces and any future introduction of car-parking charges within the facility.”

Network Rail would have a right to purchase the land at the end of the lease, with the value to be determined at that time by a chartered surveyor.

If the station was to close or part of the car park “deemed surplus to requirements”, the land will be transferred back to the council.