East Renfrewshire

For the constituencies, see East Renfrewshire (UK Parliament constituency) and Eastwood (Scottish Parliament constituency).

East Renfrewshire Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear (Scottish Gaelic) Aest Renfrewshire (Scots)
Council area
East Renfrewshire shown within Scotland
Coordinates: 55.7984°N 4.2907°W / 55.7984; -4.2907
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	Scotland
Lieutenancy area	Renfrewshire
Unitary authority	1 April 1996
Administrative HQ	Giffnock
Government [1]
• Type	Council
• Body	East Renfrewshire Council
• Control	No overall control
• MPs	Blair McDougall (L)
• MSPs	2 MSPs Jackson Carlaw (C) Tom Arthur (SNP)
Area [2]
• Total	67 sq mi (174 km^2)
• Rank	28th
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	97,160
• Rank	22nd
• Density	1,450/sq mi (558/km^2)
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ISO 3166 code	GB-ERW
GSS code	S12000011
Website	eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

Whitelee Windfarm

East Renfrewshire (Scots: Aest Renfrewshire; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It was formed in 1996, as a successor to the Eastwood district of the Strathclyde region. The northeastern part of the council area is close to Glasgow and many of the council area's northern settlements fall into the Greater Glasgow urban area.

Clockwise, East Renfrewshire borders Glasgow City council area to the northeast, South Lanarkshire to the southeast, East Ayrshire to the southwest, North Ayrshire to the west and Renfrewshire to the northwest.

Until 1975, the council area formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas of Renfrewshire and Inverclyde. These three council areas together still form a single lieutenancy area called Renfrewshire.

History

East Renfrewshire was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, which replaced Scotland's previous local government structure of upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts with unitary council areas providing all local government services. East Renfrewshire covered the whole of the abolished Eastwood district and part of Renfrew district, being the Barrhead electoral division, which roughly corresponded to the pre-1975 burgh of Barrhead and parish of Neilston, both lying in the valley of the Levern Water.^[3] The new council also took over the functions of the abolished Strathclyde Regional Council within the area.^[4]

The area's name references its location within the historic county of Renfrewshire, which had been abolished for local government purposes in 1975 when Eastwood district and Strathclyde region had been created.^[5] East Renfrewshire forms part of the Renfrewshire lieutenancy.^[6]

The area that is now East Renfrewshire has been inhabited since prehistoric times. At Dunwan Hill near Eaglesham and at Duncarnock near Newton Mearns there were Iron Age hill forts, both thought to have been occupied between around 1200 BC and 400 AD.^[7][8]

During the Industrial Revolution the Levern valley became a centre for the textiles industry, with several mills being established in Neilston and Barrhead.^[9]

Giffnock initially grew to house the workers at Giffnock Quarries, which opened in 1835. The honey-coloured stone from Giffnock was used at Glasgow University and Glasgow Central station among many other buildings. Following the development of the railways in the mid-nineteenth century, the parts of the area close to Glasgow became increasingly suburban in character.^[10]

In 1941, Rudolf Hess, one of Adolf Hitler's top deputies within the Nazi Party, parachuted into Floors Farm, near the village of Waterfoot, on a secret mission to meet the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon for peace negotiations. The botched landing led to his capture and arrest.^[11]

In 1971 a gas explosion at a parade of shops in Clarkston killed 22 people and injured more than 100.^[12]

In a 2007 Reader's Digest poll, East Renfrewshire was voted the second best place in Britain to raise a family, ranking just behind East Dunbartonshire to the north of Glasgow.^[13]

In January 2008, East Renfrewshire became the first Scottish local authority to create a Facebook page to publicise its services.^[14]

Geography

East Renfrewshire covers an area to the south and south-west of Glasgow. Many of the district's settlements are classed as part of the Greater Glasgow urban area for statistical purposes. The largest of these, in terms of population, are Newton Mearns, Barrhead, Giffnock and Clarkston. The area becomes more rural away from the Glasgow urban area with areas of moorland and numerous small lochs, many of which have been turned into reservoirs. The moors include part of the Whitelee Wind Farm.^[15][16]

A 2011 survey showed that 41% of Scotland's Jewish population lived in East Renfrewshire, making up 2.4% of the area's population.^[17]

The area is divided into eleven community council areas, all of which have community councils:^[18]

• Barrhead
• Broom, Kirkhill and Mearnskirk
• Busby
• Clarkston
• Crookfur, Greenfarm and Mearns Village
• Eaglesham and Waterfoot
• Giffnock
• Neilston
• Netherlee and Stamperland
• Thornliebank
• Uplawmoor

Localities

Newton Mearns

Barrhead

Giffnock

Clarkston

Neilston

Netherlee

Thornliebank

Stamperland

Eaglesham

Busby

Glasgow City council area

South Lanarkshire

East Ayrshire

North
Ayr-
shire

Renfrewshire

class=notpageimage|

The largest localities in East Renfrewshire.

Largest localities by population

Settlement	Population (2020)[19]
Newton Mearns	28,210
Barrhead	17,890
Giffnock	12,250
Clarkston	9,800
Neilston	5,170
Netherlee	4,530
Thornliebank	4,170
Stamperland	3,630
Eaglesham	3,470
Busby	3,310

Economy

East Renfrewshire is home to many small to medium businesses. The interests of these businesses are looked after by the East Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce.^[20]

The local newspapers are the Barrhead News, covering the local authority with emphasis on the western half of the area, which primarily includes the town of Barrhead and the villages of Neilston and Uplawmoor, and the Glasgow South and Eastwood Extra, which is delivered free to homes and businesses, which has its emphasis on the eastern half of the local authority, but also covers news across the western half as well as the south of Glasgow.^[21]

Governance

East Renfrewshire
Leadership
Provost	Mary Montague, Labour since 25 May 2022
Leader	Owen O'Donnell, Labour since 25 May 2022
Chief Executive	Steven Quinn since July 2023[22]
Structure
Seats	18 councillors
Political groups	Administration (8)   Labour (5)   Independents (3) Other parties (10)   Conservatives (5)   SNP (5)
Elections
Voting system	Single transferable vote
Last election	5 May 2022
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Eastwood Park, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, G46 6UG
Website
www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

Political control

The first election to East 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:^[23]

Party in control		Years
	No overall control	1996–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1996 have been:^[24]

Councillor	Party		From	To
Owen Taylor[25]		Labour	1 Apr 1996	Dec 2004
Jim Fletcher		Labour	2005	May 2017
Tony Buchanan		SNP	24 May 2017	May 2022
Owen O'Donnell		Labour	25 May 2022

Premises

The council's customer service centre at 211 Main Street, Barrhead

The council has its headquarters at Eastwood Park on Rouken Glen Road in Giffnock, in a building which was completed in 1980 for the former Eastwood District Council.^[26][27]

The council also has an office and customer service centre at 211 Main Street in Barrhead, built in 2003.^[28][29]

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:^[23]

Year	Seats	SNP	Conservative	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Independent / Other	Notes
1995	20	0	9	8	2	1	Labour / Lib Dem coalition
1999	20	0	8	9	2	1	New ward boundaries.[30]
2003	20	0	7	8	3	2
2007	20	3	7	7	1	2	New ward boundaries.[31]
2012	20	4	6	8	0	2	Labour / Independent / SNP coalition
2017	18	5	7	4	0	2	New ward boundaries.[32] SNP / Labour / Independent coalition
2022	18	6	5	5	0	2	Labour / Independent minority

Wards

Map of the area's wards (2017 configuration)

Six multi-member wards (20 seats) were created for the 2007 election, replacing 20 single-member wards which had been in place since the creation of the council in 1995. This representation decreased to 18 seats across five renamed and redrawn wards for the 2017 election:^[33]

Ward number	Ward	Location	Seats
1	Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor		4
2	Newton Mearns North and Neilston		3
3	Giffnock and Thornliebank		3
4	Clarkston, Netherlee and Williamwood		4
5	Newton Mearns South and Eaglesham		4

References

1. "My Council". East Renfrewshire Council. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
2. "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022". Office for National Statistics. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
3. "Boundaries Viewer". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
4. "Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1994 c. 39, retrieved 29 December 2022
5. "Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1973 c. 65, retrieved 29 December 2022
6. "The Lord-Lieutenants (Scotland) Order 1996", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1996/731, retrieved 5 January 2023
7. Historic Environment Scotland. "Details from database (SM12882)". Retrieved 4 February 2023.
8. Historic Environment Scotland. "Details from database (SM4339)". Retrieved 4 February 2023.
9. "Development of the Village". neilston.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 March 2005. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
10. "Supplementary Planning Guidance: Management and Protection of the Built Heritage" (PDF). East Renfrewshire Council. June 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
11. Silvester, Norman (6 June 2022). "How Nazi leader Rudolf Hess ended up in a cell south of Glasgow". Glasgow Times. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
12. "The day a Scottish shopping street exploded". BBC News. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
13. "Scots areas top happy family poll". BBC News. 18 April 2007.
14. Macleod, Fiona (31 January 2008). "East Renfrewshire uses Facebook to boost its libraries and sports centres". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 21 October 2008.
15. "Boundaries Viewer". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
16. "East Renfrewshire". Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
17. "Religion - East Renfrewshire Council". www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019.
18. "Community councils". East Renfrewshire Council. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
19. "Mid-2020 Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland". National Records of Scotland. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
20. "Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce". Retrieved 4 February 2023.
21. "Barrhead News". Retrieved 4 February 2023.
22. Sandelands, Drew (30 June 2023). "East Renfrewshire council's retiring chief executive praised for covid leadership". Glasgow Live. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
23. "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
24. "Council minutes". East Renfrewshire Council. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
25. "Council leader quits after assault charge". The Herald. 14 December 2004. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
26. "No. 20706". The Edinburgh Gazette. 30 May 1980. p. 676.
27. "No. 20746". The Edinburgh Gazette. 8 August 1980. p. 981.
28. "Barrhead Building - East Renfrewshire Council Offices". Glasgow Architecture. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
29. "Contact us". East Renfrewshire Council. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
30. "The East Renfrewshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1998", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1998/3102, retrieved 3 February 2023
31. Scottish Parliament. The East Renfrewshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006 as made, from legislation.gov.uk.
32. Scottish Parliament. The East Renfrewshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2016 as made, from legislation.gov.uk.
33. "United Kingdom: Scotland | Council Areas and Electoral Wards". City Population. 30 June 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2021.

External links

• East Renfrewshire Events Guide
• East Renfrewshire - History of the various suburbs