Editing Renfrewshire (section)

==History==
{{for|the history of the pre-1975 county|Renfrewshire (historic)}}
The historic county of Renfrewshire was abolished for local government purposes in 1975. The county was divided to become three of the nineteen [[districts of Scotland|districts]] in the [[Strathclyde]] region, being [[Eastwood, Strathclyde|Eastwood]], Inverclyde, and [[Renfrew (district)|Renfrew]].<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973|year=1973|chapter=65|accessdate=6 February 2023}}</ref>

In the debates leading to the local government reforms of the [[Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994]], the government initially proposed replacing these three districts with two council areas: "West Renfrewshire", covering Inverclyde district and the western parts of Renfrew district (including Paisley, [[Johnstone, Renfrewshire|Johnstone]], and Renfrew), and "East Renfrewshire", covering Eastwood district and the eastern parts of Renfrew district (including [[Barrhead]], [[Neilston]] and [[Ralston, Renfrewshire|Ralston]]). The proposals were criticised, with West Renfrewshire having three times the population of East Renfrewshire; the accusation was made in parliament that the proposed changes constituted [[gerrymandering]], with East Renfrewshire only being kept separate because it had more [[Scottish Conservative|Conservative]] voters.<ref>{{cite web |title=Local Government (Scotland and Wales) Volume 233: debated on Monday 22 November 1993 |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1993-11-22/debates/505ea6bb-9416-4179-ac1c-209fd64ea7d4/LocalGovernment(ScotlandAndWales) |website=Hansard |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=6 February 2023}}</ref>

The proposals were not supported locally, with Inverclyde successfully campaigning to be allowed to form its own council area, and the Ralston area voting in a referendum not to be transferred to East Renfrewshire.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ralston stays with Paisley! |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=6 February 2023 |work=Paisley Daily Express |date=17 May 1994 |page=1}}</ref> When the government conceded to allow Inverclyde to continue as a separate authority, the name West Renfrewshire was dropped. The central district was instead named Renfrewshire, despite only covering the central part of the historic county of that name. The new Renfrewshire covered the former Renfrew district except for the Barrhead [[wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom|electoral division]] (which also included Neilston) which went instead to East Renfrewshire. The new council areas came into effect on 1 April 1996.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994|year=1994|chapter=39|accessdate=6 February 2023}}</ref>

The [[Braehead]] shopping centre was built in 1999 straddling the boundary between Renfrewshire and Glasgow, leading to a dispute between the two councils. It was agreed that the boundary should be changed to place the whole centre in one council area, but both authorities wanted it. In 2002, the [[Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland|Local Government Boundary Commission]] eventually redrew the boundary to include all of the centre in Renfrewshire.<ref>{{cite news|title=Glasgow MSPs lose Braehead battle|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1973915.stm|access-date=13 June 2012|newspaper=BBC News|date=7 May 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2002/156/article/5/made |accessdate=13 September 2021| title=The Glasgow City Council and Renfrewshire Council Boundaries (Braehead) Amendment Order 2002 | year=2002 | website=legislation.gov.uk }}</ref>