# Renfrewshire

Renfrewshire (/ˈrɛnfruːʃɪər, -ʃər/) (Scots: Renfrewshire; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, 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 town of Paisley is the area's main settlement and centre of local government. The area also contains the historic county town of Renfrew.
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.
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.

## Toponymy

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.

## History

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.
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.
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. 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.
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.

## Settlements

Largest settlements by population:
| Settlement | Population (2020) |
| 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

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):
* Bishopton*
* Bridge of Weir*
* Brookfield*
* Charleston
* Elderslie*
* Erskine*
* Ferguslie*
* Foxbar and Brediland
* Gallowhill
* Glenburn
* Hawkhead and Lochfield*
* Houston*
* Howwood*
* Hunterhill
* Inchinnan*
* Johnstone*
* Kilbarchan*
* Langbank*
* Linwood*
* Lochwinnoch*
* Paisley East and Whitehaugh*
* Paisley North*
* Paisley West and Central*
* Ralston*
* Renfrew*

## Demographics

| Ethnic Group | 2001 | 2001 | 2011 | 2011 | 2022 | 2022 |
| Ethnic Group | 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 | – | – | 70 | – | 70 | – |
| White: Polish | – | – | 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 | 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 | – | – | 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

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.

## Wider politics
### UK Parliament

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 | Party | Votes cast | Votes cast | Votes cast | Votes cast | Votes cast | Votes cast | % | % | % | % | % | % | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | 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 | 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 | 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

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

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

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.
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.
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

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. Renfrewshire also has bus links provided by FirstGroup, McGill's Bus Services and other smaller operators.

## Places of interest

* Auchenbathie Tower
* Barr Castle
* Barshaw Park
* Belltrees Peel
* Castle Semple Church
* Castle Semple Loch Peel Tower
* Climbzone
* Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park
* Coats Observatory
* Coats Paisley
* Craigends Yew
* Craigie Linn waterfall
* Erskine Bridge
* Fountain Gardens, Paisley
* Gleniffer Braes
* Johnstone Castle
* Kenmure Hill Temple
* Lagoon Leisure Centre
* Meikle Millbank Mill
* Paisley Abbey
* Paisley Museum and Art Galleries
* Paisley Thread Mill Museum
* Paisley Town Hall
* Ranfurly Castle
* Renfrew Museum
* Robertson Park
* Sma' Shot Cottages
* St Fillan's Kirk, Seat and Well
* St Matthew's Church, Paisley
* St Patrick's Rock
* St Peter's Well, Houston
* Windy Hill
* Weaver's Cottage