Council area of Scotland
Place in Scotland
Whitelee Windfarm
East Renfrewshire
(
Scots
:
Aest Renfrewshire
;
Scottish Gaelic
:
Siorrachd Rinn Friu 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
[
edit
]
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
.
[1]
The new council also took over the functions of the abolished
Strathclyde Regional Council
within the area.
[2]
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.
[3]
East Renfrewshire forms part of the
Renfrewshire lieutenancy
.
[4]
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.
[5]
[6]
During the
industrial revolution
the Levern valley became a centre for the textiles industry, with several mills being established in Neilston and Barrhead.
[7]
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.
[8]
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.
[9]
In 1971 a
gas explosion
at a parade of shops in
Clarkston
killed 22 people and injured more than 100.
[10]
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.
[11]
In January 2008, East Renfrewshire became the first Scottish local authority to create a
Facebook
page to publicise its services.
[12]
Geography
[
edit
]
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
.
[13]
[14]
A 2011 survey showed that 41% of
Scotland's Jewish population
lived in East Renfrewshire, making up 2.4% of the area's population.
[15]
The area is divided into eleven
community council areas
, all of which have
community councils
:
[16]
Settlements
[
edit
]
The largest settlements in East Renfrewshire.
Largest settlements by population:
Settlement
|
Population (2020)
[17]
|
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
[
edit
]
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.
[18]
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
.
[19]
Governance
[
edit
]
Political control
[
edit
]
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:
[21]
Leadership
[
edit
]
The
leaders of the council
since 1996 have been:
[22]
Councillor
|
Party
|
From
|
To
|
Owen Taylor
[23]
|
|
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
[
edit
]
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.
[24]
[25]
The council also has an office and customer service centre at 211 Main Street in
Barrhead
, built in 2003.
[26]
[27]
Elections
[
edit
]
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:
[21]
Wards
[
edit
]
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:
[31]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Boundaries Viewer"
.
National Library of Scotland
. Retrieved
4 February
2023
.
- ^
"Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994"
,
legislation.gov.uk
,
The National Archives
, 1994 c. 39
, retrieved
29 December
2022
- ^
"Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973"
,
legislation.gov.uk
,
The National Archives
, 1973 c. 65
, retrieved
29 December
2022
- ^
"The Lord-Lieutenants (Scotland) Order 1996"
,
legislation.gov.uk
,
The National Archives
, SI 1996/731
, retrieved
5 January
2023
- ^
Historic Environment Scotland
.
"Details from database (SM12882)"
. Retrieved
4 February
2023
.
- ^
Historic Environment Scotland
.
"Details from database (SM4339)"
. Retrieved
4 February
2023
.
- ^
"Development of the Village"
. neilston.org.uk. Archived from
the original
on 2 March 2005
. Retrieved
4 February
2023
.
- ^
"Supplementary Planning Guidance: Management and Protection of the Built Heritage"
(PDF)
.
East Renfrewshire Council
. June 2015
. Retrieved
4 February
2023
.
- ^
Silvester, Norman (6 June 2022).
"How Nazi leader Rudolf Hess ended up in a cell south of Glasgow"
.
Glasgow Times
. Retrieved
4 February
2023
.
- ^
"The day a Scottish shopping street exploded"
.
BBC News
. 21 October 2021
. Retrieved
4 February
2023
.
- ^
"Scots areas top happy family poll"
. BBC News. 18 April 2007.
- ^
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.
- ^
"Boundaries Viewer"
.
National Library of Scotland
. Retrieved
2 February
2023
.
- ^
"East Renfrewshire"
.
Undiscovered Scotland
. Retrieved
3 February
2023
.
- ^
"Religion - East Renfrewshire Council"
.
www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk
. Archived from
the original
on 4 April 2019.
- ^
"Community councils"
.
East Renfrewshire Council
. Retrieved
3 February
2023
.
- ^
"Mid-2020 Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland"
.
National Records of Scotland
. 31 March 2022
. Retrieved
31 March
2022
.
- ^
"Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce"
. Retrieved
4 February
2023
.
- ^
"Barrhead News"
. Retrieved
4 February
2023
.
- ^
Sandelands, Drew (30 June 2023).
"East Renfrewshire council's retiring chief executive praised for covid leadership"
.
Glasgow Live
. Retrieved
16 July
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"Compositions calculator"
.
The Elections Centre
. Retrieved
3 February
2023
.
- ^
"Council minutes"
.
East Renfrewshire Council
. Retrieved
3 February
2023
.
- ^
"Council leader quits after assault charge"
.
The Herald
. 14 December 2004
. Retrieved
3 February
2023
.
- ^
"No. 20706"
.
The Edinburgh Gazette
. 30 May 1980. p. 676.
- ^
"No. 20746"
.
The Edinburgh Gazette
. 8 August 1980. p. 981.
- ^
"Barrhead Building - East Renfrewshire Council Offices"
.
Glasgow Architecture
. Retrieved
3 February
2023
.
- ^
"Contact us"
.
East Renfrewshire Council
. Retrieved
3 February
2023
.
- ^
"The East Renfrewshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1998"
,
legislation.gov.uk
,
The National Archives
, SI 1998/3102
, retrieved
3 February
2023
- ^
Scottish Parliament.
The East Renfrewshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006
as made, from
legislation.gov.uk
.
- ^
Scottish Parliament.
The East Renfrewshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2016
as made, from
legislation.gov.uk
.
- ^
"United Kingdom: Scotland | Council Areas and Electoral Wards"
.
City Population
. 30 June 2019
. Retrieved
28 March
2021
.
External links
[
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]
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Towns
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Villages
| |
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Other settlements and suburbs
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See also
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