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Renfrewshire

Coordinates: 55°49′47″N 4°32′34″W / 55.829858°N 4.542838°W / 55.829858; -4.542838
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For the historic county and lieutenancy area, see Renfrewshire (historic).

Renfrewshire
Siorrachd Rinn Friù (Scottish Gaelic)
Council area
Coat of arms of Renfrewshire
Coat of arms
Renfrewshire shown within Scotland
Renfrewshire shown within Scotland
Coordinates: 55°49′47″N 4°32′34″W / 55.829858°N 4.542838°W / 55.829858; -4.542838
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
CountryScotland
Lieutenancy areaRenfrewshire
Unitary authority1 April 1996
Administrative HQRenfrewshire House, Paisley
Government
[1]
 • TypeCouncil
 • BodyRenfrewshire Council
 • ControlNo overall control
 • MPs
2 MPs
 • MSPs
3 MSPs
Area
[2]
 • Total
101 sq mi (261 km2)
 • Rank24th
Population
 (2022)[2]
 • Total
184,340
 • Rank9th
 • Density1,830/sq mi (705/km2)
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)
ISO 3166 codeGB-RFW
GSS codeS12000038
Websiterenfrewshire.gov.uk

Renfrewshire (/ˈrɛnfruːʃɪər, -ʃər/) (Scots: Renfrewshire; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland.

The council area has the same name as the historic county of Renfrewshire, which had been abolished for local government purposes in 1975, but the modern council area only covers the central part of the historic county. The eastern part of the pre-1975 county is covered by the East Renfrewshire council area, and the western part by the Inverclyde council area.

Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City council area, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern bank of the River Clyde. The current council area of Renfrewshire was established in 1996.

The term Renfrewshire may also be used to refer to the larger historic county, which was established in the fifteenth century. The three council areas of Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, and East Renfrewshire together form the Renfrewshire lieutenancy area. The same area also has a joint valuation board area for electoral registration and local tax valuation purposes. The three council areas together are sometimes referred to as Greater Renfrewshire to distinguish them from the council area called Renfrewshire.

The town of Paisley is the area's main settlement and centre of local government. The area also contains the historic county town of Renfrew.

Toponymy

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The name Renfrewshire derives from being the shire (the area controlled by a sheriff) administered from the royal burgh of Renfrew. The name Renfrew has been attested since the Roman occupation of Britain. The name is believed to originate from Common Brittonic/Cumbric, from ren, as in Scottish Gaelic: rinn, or as in Welsh: rhyn (a point or cape of land) and from frew, as in Welsh: fraw, or ffrau (flow of water). This suggests a point of land near the flow of water, such as at the confluence of the Cart and Clyde rivers.[3]

History

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For the history of the pre-1975 county, see Renfrewshire (historic).

The historic county of Renfrewshire was abolished for local government purposes in 1975. The county was divided to become three of the nineteen districts in the Strathclyde region, being Eastwood, Inverclyde, and Renfrew.[4]

In the debates leading to the local government reforms of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, the government initially proposed replacing these three districts with two council areas: "West Renfrewshire", covering Inverclyde district and the western parts of Renfrew district (including Paisley, Johnstone, and Renfrew), and "East Renfrewshire", covering Eastwood district and the eastern parts of Renfrew district (including Barrhead, Neilston and Ralston). The proposals were criticised, with West Renfrewshire having three times the population of East Renfrewshire; the accusation was made in parliament that the proposed changes constituted gerrymandering, with East Renfrewshire only being kept separate because it had more Conservative voters.[5]

The proposals were not supported locally, with Inverclyde successfully campaigning to be allowed to form its own council area, and the Ralston area voting in a referendum not to be transferred to East Renfrewshire.[6] When the government conceded to allow Inverclyde to continue as a separate authority, the name West Renfrewshire was dropped. The central district was instead named Renfrewshire, despite only covering the central part of the historic county of that name. The new Renfrewshire covered the former Renfrew district except for the Barrhead electoral division (which also included Neilston) which went instead to East Renfrewshire. The new council areas came into effect on 1 April 1996.[7]

The Braehead shopping centre was built in 1999 straddling the boundary between Renfrewshire and Glasgow, leading to a dispute between the two councils. It was agreed that the boundary should be changed to place the whole centre in one council area, but both authorities wanted it. In 2002, the Local Government Boundary Commission eventually redrew the boundary to include all of the centre in Renfrewshire.[8][9]

Settlements

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class=notpageimage|
The largest settlements in Renfrewshire.

Largest settlements by population:

Settlement Population (2020)[10]
Paisley

77,270

Renfrew

24,270

Johnstone

15,930

Erskine

15,010

Linwood

8,450

Bishopton

7,920

Houston

6,360

Elderslie

5,480

Bridge of Weir

4,920

Kilbarchan

3,300

Communities

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The area is divided into 25 community council areas, 20 of which have community councils as at 2023 (being those with asterisks in the list below):[11]

Demographics

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Ethnic Group 2001[12] 2011[12][13] 2022[14]
Number % Number % Number %
White: Total 170,728 98.76% 170,127 97.27% 171,816 94.78%
White: Scottish 161,395 93.36% 159,708 91.31% 147,073 81.13%
White: Other British 5,956 3.45% 5,805 3.32% 12,959 7.15%
White: Irish 1,877 1.09% 1,643 0.94% 1,290 0.71%
White: Gypsy/Traveller[a] – – 70 – 70 –
White: Polish[a] – – 1,298 0.74% 5,568 3.07%
White: Other 1,500 0.87% 1,603 0.92% 4,853 2.68%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Total 1,509 0.87% 3,110 1.78% 5,056
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Indian 461 0.27% 1,028 0.59% 1,315 0.73%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Pakistani 497 0.29% 965 0.55% 2,338 1.29%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Bangladeshi 8 – 19 – 45 –
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Chinese 440 0.25% 823 0.47% 810 0.45%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Asian Other 103 0.06% 275 0.16% 548 0.30%
Black, Black Scottish or Black British[b] 30 – – – – –
African: Total 113 0.07% 804 0.46% 1,439 0.79%
African: African, African Scottish or African British – – 782 0.45% 165 0.09%
African: Other African – – 22 – 1,274 0.70%
Caribbean or Black: Total – – 119 0.07% 163 0.09%
Caribbean 54 – 64 – 68 –
Black – – 47 – 15 –
Caribbean or Black: Other – – 8 – 80 –
Mixed or multiple ethnic groups: Total 285 0.16% 437 0.25% 1,912 1.05%
Other: Total 148 0.09% 311 0.18% 888 0.49%
Other: Arab[a] – – 194 0.11% 329 0.18%
Other: Any other ethnic group – – 117 0.07% 559 0.31%
Total: 172,867 100.00% 174,908 100.00% 181,278 100.00%

Culture

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Paisley Abbey

Renfrewshire contains several places of interest. In the west of Renfrewshire, Castle Semple Loch at Lochwinnoch and the wider Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park are natural areas of interest, as is the Gleniffer Braes country park in the south.

Paisley contains several historic buildings and notable sites, including Paisley Abbey, Paisley Museum and Coats Observatory, Paisley Town Hall, Coats Memorial Church, Sma' Shot Cottages and St Mirren Park (home of St Mirren F.C.). Outside of Paisley, Elderslie, the claimed birthplace of Scottish knight William Wallace, contains a monument in his honour, while the Weaver's Cottage at Kilbarchan is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. The town of Johnstone is notable for Johnstone Castle, Johnstone High Parish Church and for containing a museum within a supermarket.

The Braehead Arena in Renfrewshire close to the boundary with Glasgow is home to leading professional basketball team, the Scottish Rocks, who compete in the British Basketball League. The arena was also host to the 2000 Ford World Curling Championships.

Governance

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Main article: Renfrewshire Council

Wider politics

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UK Parliament

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The two parliamentary constituencies covering Renfrewshire are Paisley and Renfrewshire North and Paisley and Renfrewshire South, being represented by Labour Party politicians Alison Taylor and Johanna Baxter of the respectively. Created in 2005, both seats had held by the Labour Party, until they were won by Gavin Newlands and Mhairi Black with swings of over 26% in the SNP landslide at the 2015 general election. Both seats returned to Labour following the 2024 general election.

UK general election results in Renfrewshire 2005–2024
Party Votes cast % Seats
2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024
Labour 38,601 47,455 34,389 29,265 22,409 39,144 49.0 56.7 35.6 33.1 24.2 47.3 2 2 0 0 0 2
Scottish National 14,349 15,621 49,149 34,419 44,990 26,284 18.2 18.6 50.8 39.0 48.5 31.7 0 0 2 2 2 0
Conservative 8,754 10,360 9,709 20,964 18,788 4,878 11.1 12.4 10.0 23.7 20.3 5.9 0 0 0 0 0 0
Liberal Democrat 14,136 8,409 2,065 2,803 6,579 2,689 18.0 10.0 2.1 3.2 7.1 3.2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Others 2,905 1,920 1,376 876 N/A 9,807 3.7 2.3 1.4 1.0 N/A 11.9 0 0 0 0 N/A 0
Margin 24,252 31,834 14,760 5,154 22,581 12,860 30.8 38.1 15.2 5.9 24.3 15.6 2 2 2 2 2 2
Total 78,745 83,765 96,688 88,327 92,766 82,802 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 2 2 2 2 2 2

Scottish Parliament

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Following the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the Labour Party held the three seats covering Renfrewshire, although with lower majorities than their House of Commons equivalents.

Constituency boundaries were redrawn for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, with the new constituencies of Renfrewshire North and West and Paisley being gained by Derek Mackay and George Adam, who became the first SNP parliamentarians in Renfrewshire. The remaining Labour seat, Renfrewshire South, was gained by the SNP's Tom Arthur at the 2016 Scottish election. Arthur and Adam were re-elected in 2021 winning over half the vote in their respective seats, while Mackay was replaced by Renfrewshire Councillor Natalie Don.

Renfrewshire is also contained with the West Scotland which elects seven additional members.

Referendum results

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A majority of Renfrewshire rejected independence in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, although with 55,466 (47.2%) votes cast in favour and 62,067 (52.8%) against, the Yes vote was higher than the national result. The turnout was 117,612 or 87.3%, the highest recorded in the democratic era.

With a turnout of 69.2% (88,197), Renfrewshire voted to remain in the 2016 European Union membership referendum with 64.8% (57,119) of votes cast in favour of remaining while 35.2% (31,010) were for leaving. This was the sixth highest vote for Remain out of Scotland's 32 councils.

Education

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Renfrewshire contains the University of the West of Scotland, a new university that was granted university status in 1992 as the University of Paisley. Prior to this, the Paisley Technical College and School of Art was a Central Institution or polytechnic. In 2007 the university merged with Bell College, a further education college in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire and the UWS name was adopted. The university today has sites across the west of Scotland, notably also in Ayr and a joint campus in Dumfries; the main campus remains in Paisley.

Paisley Grammar School

Further education is provided by Paisley Campus of West College Scotland in Paisley, which caters to around 20,000 students. The college also has sites in Inverclyde and West Dumbartonshire.[15]

Renfrewshire contains eleven state secondary schools: Castlehead High School, Gleniffer High School, Gryffe High School, Johnstone High School, Linwood High School, Paisley Grammar School, Park Mains High School, Renfrew High School, St Andrew's Academy, St Benedict's High School, and Trinity High School. It also has 51 primary schools and three schools for children with additional support needs.

Transport

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Glasgow International Airport

Renfrewshire is home to Scotland's second busiest airport, Glasgow International Airport, at Abbotsinch between Paisley and Renfrew. The presence of the airport and the proximity to Glasgow means that Renfrewshire supports one of the busiest transport infrastructures in Scotland.

The airport is served by the M8 motorway, which terminates in the area, just east of Langbank, and is a major artery between northwest and southwest Scotland, via the Erskine Bridge.

Developments to ease traffic flow have included a lifting of tolls on the Erskine Bridge, original plans to extend the rail network to connect to the airport have been cancelled and the latest suggestion in 2019 is a metro line connecting Paisley to the airport then on to Glasgow via Braehead. Also the M74 extension was completed to handle traffic from Renfrewshire heading south, diverting it away from Glasgow city centre.[16] Renfrewshire also has bus links provided by FirstGroup, McGill's Bus Services and other smaller operators.

Places of interest

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c New category created for the 2011 census
  2. ^ Category restructured for the 2011 census

References

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  1. ^ "Your Council". Renfrewshire Council. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022". Office for National Statistics. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  3. ^ Charnock, Richard Stephen (1859). "Local Etymology: A Derivative Dictionary of Geographical Names". R.S. Charnock, London, 1859.
  4. ^ "Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1973 c. 65, retrieved 6 February 2023
  5. ^ "Local Government (Scotland and Wales) Volume 233: debated on Monday 22 November 1993". Hansard. UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  6. ^ "Ralston stays with Paisley!". Paisley Daily Express. 17 May 1994. p. 1. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  7. ^ "Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1994 c. 39, retrieved 6 February 2023
  8. ^ "Glasgow MSPs lose Braehead battle". BBC News. 7 May 2002. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  9. ^ "The Glasgow City Council and Renfrewshire Council Boundaries (Braehead) Amendment Order 2002". legislation.gov.uk. 2002. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Mid-2020 Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland". National Records of Scotland. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Elections to Community Councils". Renfrewshire Council. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  12. ^ a b Census Dissemination Unit, Mimas (5 May 2011). "InFuse". infuse2011gf.ukdataservice.ac.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  13. ^ "Scotland's Census 2011 – Table KS201SC". scotlandscensus.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  14. ^ "Scotland's Census 2022 - Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion - Chart data". Scotland's Census. National Records of Scotland. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024. Alternative URL 'Search data by location' > 'Local Authority (CA2019)' > 'Renfrewshire' > 'Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion' > 'Ethnic Group'
  15. ^ [1] Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ [2] Archived 23 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine
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