Renfrewshire Council

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.

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

Political control

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.

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:

Party in control		Years
	1996–2007
	2007–2012
	2012–2017
	2017–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1996 have been:

Councillor	Party		From	To
Hugh Henry		1 Apr 1996	1999
Jim Harkins		1999	May 2007
Derek Mackay		17 May 2007	May 2011
Brian Lawson		26 May 2011	May 2012
Mark MacMillan		17 May 2012	May 2017
Iain Nicolson		18 May 2017

Council composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent changes of allegiance up to 7th March 2025, the composition of the council was:

Party		Councillors
	20
	13
	4
	3
	2
	1
Total		43

The next election is due in 2027.

Premises

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. 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.

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:

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

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. 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:

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	File:Renfrewshire UK ward map 2017 Erskine and Inchinnan.svg	4	18,063