Renfrewshire Council

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Renfrewshire
Coat of arms or logo
Coat of arms
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Council logo
Leadership
Lorraine Cameron,
SNP
since 18 May 2017[1]
Iain Nicolson,
SNP
since 18 May 2017
Alan Russell
since November 2021[2]
Structure
Seats43 councillors
File:Scotland Renfrewshire Council 2025.svg
Political groups
Administration (20)
  SNP (20)
Other parties (23)
  Labour (12)
  Conservative (3)
  Reform UK (3)
  Liberal Democrat (1)
  Independent (4)
Elections
Single transferable vote
Last election
6 May 2022
Next election
6 May 2027
Meeting place
File:Renfrewshire House Building, Paisley.jpg
Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley, PA1 1AN
Website
www.renfrewshire.gov.uk

Renfrewshire Council is the local authority for Renfrewshire, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It consists of 43 councillors who elect from among their number a provost to serve as the council's convener and ceremonial head and a leader of the council who is typically the head of the largest political group. The council is based at Renfrewshire House in Paisley.

The council meets collectively as a full council and carries out a number of functions. Its scheme of delegated functions sets out where the council has agreed to allow powers to be exercised by a committee (referred to as a "board" in Renfrewshire Council), a sub-committee, an officer of the council or a joint committee with one or more other councils. The council continues to reserve a number of functions that can only be carried out by the council acting as a whole. The council's staff is headed by a chief executive who is responsible to the elected council.[3]

Renfrewshire Council acts as the lead authority for Scotland Excel, a collaborative procurement vehicle established in 2008 to support the local authorities of Scotland.[4]

Political control

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The council has been under no overall control since 2017. Following the 2022 election an SNP minority administration took control of the council with support from independent councillor Andy Doig on a confidence and supply basis.[5]

The first election to Renfrewshire Council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows:[6]

Party in control Years
Labour 1996–2007
No overall control 2007–2012
Labour 2012–2017
No overall control 2017–present

Leadership

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The role of provost is largely ceremonial in Renfrewshire. They chair full council meetings and act as the council's civic figurehead. Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1996 have been:

Councillor Party From To
Hugh Henry[7][8] Labour 1 Apr 1996 May 1999
Jim Harkins[9][10] Labour May 1999 May 2007
Derek Mackay[11][12] SNP May 2007 May 2011
Brian Lawson[12][13] SNP 26 May 2011 May 2012
Mark MacMillan[14][15] Labour May 2012 May 2017
Iain Nicolson[1] SNP 18 May 2017

Council composition

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Following the 2022 election and subsequent changes of allegiance up to June 2025, the composition of the council was:[16][17]

Party Councillors
SNP 20
Labour 12
Conservative 3
Reform 3
Liberal Democrats 1
Independent 4
Total 43

The next election is due in 2027.[17]

Premises

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The council is based at Renfrewshire House on Cotton Street in Paisley, which was built between 1969 and 1973 as the "County and Municipal Buildings", being a joint facility for the old Renfrewshire County Council and Paisley Town Council.[18][19][20] After the reforms of 1975 the building was shared between Renfrew District Council and Strathclyde Regional Council. Following the creation of Renfrewshire Council in 1996 the building was renamed Renfrewshire House.[21]

Elections

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Main article: Renfrewshire Council elections

Since 2007 elections have been held every five years under the single transferable vote system, introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Election results since 1995 have been as follows:[6]

Year Seats SNP Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Independent / Other Notes
1995 40 13 22 2 3 0
1999 40 15 21 1 3 0 New ward boundaries.[22]
2003 40 15 21 1 3 0
2007 40 17 17 2 4 0 New ward boundaries.[23]
2012 40 15 22 1 1 1
2017 43 19 13 8 1 2 New ward boundaries.[24]
2022 43 21 15 5 1 1

Electoral wards

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Main article: Wards of Renfrewshire
File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 (blank).svg
Map of Renfrewshire's 12 wards, using 2017 boundaries

For the purposes of elections to Renfrewshire Council, the Renfrewshire area is divided geographically into a number of wards which then elect either three or four councillors each by the single transferable vote system.[25] The electoral system of local councils in Scotland is governed by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, which first introduced proportional representation to councils in Scotland.

These electoral wards, following a 2017 review and first used in the 2017 Renfrewshire Council election are as follows:[26][27]

Ward number Ward Name Location Seats Population

(2020)

1 Renfrew North and Braehead File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Renfrew North and Braehead.svg 4 17,827
2 Renfrew South and Gallowhill File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Renfrew South and Gallowhill.svg 3 12,232
3 Paisley Northeast and Ralston File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Paisley Northeast and Ralston.svg 3 12,810
4 Paisley Northwest File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Paisley Northwest.svg 4 17,018
5 Paisley East and Central File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Paisley East and Central.svg 3 12,218
6 Paisley Southeast File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Paisley Southeast.svg 3 12,925
7 Paisley Southwest File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Paisley Southwest.svg 4 16,505
8 Johnstone South and Elderslie File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Johnstone South and Elderslie.svg 4 15,860
9 Johnstone North, Kilbarchan, Howwood and Lochwinnoch File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Johnstone North Kilbarchan Howwood and Lochwinnoch.svg 4 14,740
10 Houston, Crosslee and Linwood File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Houston Crosslee and Linwood.svg 4 19,152
11 Bishopton, Bridge of Weir and Langbank File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Bishopton Bridge of Weir and Langbank.svg 3 10,040
12 Erskine and Inchinnan 4 18,063

References

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  19. ^ Glasgow Area Telephone Directory, October 1971, p. 709, Renfrewshire County Council, County Buildings, Cotton Street, Paisley
  20. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  23. ^ Scottish Parliament. The Renfrewshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006 as made, from legislation.gov.uk.
  24. ^ Scottish Parliament. The Renfrewshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2016 as made, from legislation.gov.uk.
  25. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  27. ^ Council Area | Renfrewshire, Scottish Government Statistics. Retrieved 22 April 2022
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