Renfrewshire

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Renfrewshire council area
Location
Image:ScotlandRenfrewshire.png
Geography
Area	Ranked 24th
-Total	261 km²
-% Water	?
Admin HQ	Paisley
ISO 3166-2	GB-RFW
ONS code	00RC
Demographics
Population	Ranked 9th
-Total (2005)	170,000
-Density	651 / km²
Politics
Renfrewshire Council http://www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/
Control	Labour
MPs	Douglas Alexander James Sheridan
MSPs	Wendy Alexander Hugh Henry Trish Godman
Image:Flag of Scotland.svg

Renfrewshire (Siorrachd Rinn Friù in Gaelic) is one of 32 unitary authority regions in Scotland. It borders the south-west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. Renfrewshire also borders North Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and West Dunbartonshire. It is named after the historic Renfrewshire county, although this covered a larger area, including both Inverclyde and East Renfrewshire.

Although geographically one of Scotland's smallest unitary authorities (outside the cities), it is one of the country's most populous areas, being the fifth largest unitary authority and the ninth largest including the city authorities.

The 1975-96 district of Renfrew covered a slightly larger area, and included the towns of Barrhead, Neilston and Uplawmoor, which, following the partition of Strathclyde region in 1996, were transferred into the new East Renfrewshire authority.

The current political make-up of the council is: 21 Labour members, 15 Scottish National Party members, 3 Liberal Democrat members and 1 Conservative member.

Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board is a statutory body responsible for carrying out the property valuation functions of Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Councils.[1]

The Renfrewshire Music Festival, latterly the Inverclyde and Renfrew Music Festival is an annual music and dance event, similar in format to the Gaelic Mod (but in English). Held in Greenock, many of the schools and choirs in the former county of Renfrew compete.

1 Transport
2 Places of interest
3 Youth
4 Towns and villages

[edit] Transport

Renfrewshire is home to Scotland's busiest airport, Glasgow Airport, at Abbotsinch between Paisley and Renfrew. It is served by the M8 motorway, which terminates in the area, just east of Langbank, and is a major artery between north west and south west Scotland, via the Erskine Bridge. The presence of the airport and the proximity to Glasgow means that Renfrewshire supports one of the busiest transport infrastructures in Scotland, and is frequently congested. Recent developments to ease traffic flow have included a lifting of tolls on the Erskine Bridge, plans to extend the rail network to connect to the airport [2], and the M74 extension, which will handle traffic from Renfrewshire heading south, diverting it away from Glasgow city centre.

[edit] Places of interest

Places of interest include the historic Castle Semple Loch at Lochwinnoch, Coats Observatory in Paisley, the Erskine Bridge, the country park at Gleniffer Braes, south of Paisley, Love Street, Paisley (home of St. Mirren FC), Muirshiel Country Park, Paisley Abbey and the Weaver's Cottage at Kilbarchan, in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.

[edit] Youth

Image:RYVLogo.gif

Renfrewshire has many youth groups that participate in local and national government. One of the main groups is the Renfrewshire Youth Voice (RYV) whos goals include coordinating youth activity in Renfrewshire so young people can have a greater say in the running of governmental activities.