Bishopton Bridge

Renfrewshire is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland (also known as local authorities or unitary authorities), formally established in 1996 to succeed the Renfrew district within the Strathclyde region, both of which were abolished; the headquarters are at Paisley. The composition of the new bodies was decided in the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and elections were held nationwide in May 1995. Initially, councillors were elected via 40 individual wards each returning one member on a plurality (First-past-the-post) basis, which was the case in 1995, 1999 and 2003. Under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, the election format was changed to a more proportional single transferable vote, with larger wards each electing three or four councillors (depending on population size), which in Renfrewshire resulted in the creation of 11 wards, still returning 40 councillors - the format used in the 2007 elections was repeated in 2012. A national review by Boundaries Scotland led to a re-arrangement in Renfrewshire, with three more councillors added, an additional new ward and adjustments for others, although some remained unchanged; this was put in place for the 2017 elections and used again in 2022 elections. The current (post-2017) wards of Renfrewshire are summarised below (ordered as they are numbered by the council), with any changes since 2007 outlined (technically those which changed name and boundaries are new entities but in each case there is a clear continuity of members and territory).