A RENFREWSHIRE councillor has insisted she wants a bigger contribution from community groups within Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park after being named as the new convener of the authority.

Councillor Audrey Doig was appointed to head up the Clyde Muirshiel Park Authority at the recent full council meeting.

The authority – which manages conservation, recreation and tourism activities – is made up of elected members from Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and North Ayrshire councils.

Cllr Doig, who represents Linwood, Houston and Crosslee, was appointed despite an amendment filed by opposition councillors to request Johnstone councillor Bill Binks become the convener.

Cllr Doig, who sat on the park authority between 2007 and 2012, said she believes she will be able to find new areas for development by forming better relationships with community groups.

She said: “I am really delighted to be taking up this new opportunity as convener of the park authority.

“Council budgets are very tight but it is not always about money.

“As someone who was in the leisure field for nearly 40 years in Renfrewshire I think I have a skills set which means a fresh pair of eyes may see opportunities for development that have been overlooked before. I want to meet as many community groups as possible that are within the park boundary to get their views.

“I want to forge a closer relationship between the park authority and the Clyde Muirshiel Consultative Forum so we are much more of a genuine partnership rather than the forum feeling that the councillors and council officers dominate to the exclusion of other ideas. And I invite all community councils in the Park Authority area to also contact me with new ideas.

“Clyde Muirshiel is not just important to the three authorities as a leading leisure facility, there is also a moral duty for us all to re-green our communities.”

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