Officials in Glasgow are set to approve new plans to open a fix room in the city. The facility, which would be the first of its kind in the UK, would provide a safe place for drug abusers to inject drugs under supervision.

The aim of the proposal is to tackle problems caused and faced by the city’s 500 or so users that inject on the streets. By providing a safe environment, it is hoped that addicts will use the fix room rather than injecting on the street.

The move is set up be approved by officials, including the police force, local councillors and members of the city’s prominent health boards. The plans will now be put before the Glasgow City Integration Joint Board.

It is believed that plans to introduce a scheme to provide heroin-assisted treatment will be approved. If the proposal is given the green light, drug users would be provided with medical-grade heroin, which they could inject in a safe environment under supervision.

The proposals were drawn up by the Glasgow City Alcohol and Drug Partnership, which was formed by the Scottish government and given the job of identifying measures that could help to tackle alcohol and drug abuse in the city. The panel is made up of representatives from multiple agencies.

The fix room is a new concept in the UK, but such facilities already exist in parts of Europe and Australia. Members of the partnership believe that the opening of a facility in Glasgow would eradicate problems caused by injecting in the streets, such as public health risks associated with discarded, used needles. There is also a belief that users would be subjected to a lower risk of infection and blood-borne diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. The panel also believes that there would be a reduced risk of overdose.