BARRHEAD Community Council has vowed to ignore guidelines on membership in a bid to guarantee its future.

Rules imposed by East Renfrewshire Council (ERC) limit the number of members from each area of the town.

Up to 20 spaces are available on Barrhead Community Council (BCC) but it currently has just nine active members, with ERC’s rules being blamed for the lack of numbers.

Rosaleen Reilly, BCC chairperson, told the Barrhead News: “It used to be that it wouldn’t matter where you came from - if there was a space on the community council and someone was interested, they would just need to be co-opted and then they could contribute and have their say.

“Now it has all been split up so there are only five spaces available to people from Auchenback, five for Dunterlie and Grahamston Park and so on.

“If a sixth person from Auchenback shows an interest, we have to knock them back, even though there is clearly space around the table.

“We have decided we don’t want to continue with this. What we want is bums on seats.”

The issue was raised by Donald MacInnes at BCC’s June meeting, with members agreeing the rules should be changed.

Ms Reilly added: “We want to work together for the whole of the community. Splitting things up like this is unnecessary and could actually be harmful for the area and jeopardise the existence of the community council.

“It was agreed that, in the new term, we won’t deny anyone who wants to join based on whether or not the ‘quota’ for their area has been filled. We want 20 round the table, not nine.

“We expect we will get our knuckles wrapped for this by ERC but then they’ll have to explain why we’re not allowed to have people who want to serve their community on our committee - and that would be interesting.”

A spokesman for ERC said the guidelines aim to attract a greater number of people, representing a wider area.

He added: “Our residents had told us they wanted to see change and the new scheme provides more opportunities for people who have a passion for their area.

“It has already led to increased diversity within community councils, drawing representatives from a broader range of individuals, including more females and more members from ethnic minorities, to represent the communities they live in.

“We have been working with Barrhead Community Council closely and are aware they do not currently have the required membership numbers in place. We will support them to attract new members who are representative of their neighbourhoods and Barrhead as a whole, with an interim election planned to take place in late August.”

Anyone who would like to join the community council is asked to call 0141 577 4546.