Give our businesses a boost
As we look ahead towards the planned change to restriction levels on May 17, it’s encouraging that we are able to take the cautious steps towards more normality than we’ve had for so long – while recognising that we all still have to be careful over the coming months as things begin to reopen.
The move to Level 2 would see six adults from three households able to meet indoors once again which will make such a difference for families across Renfrewshire, while eight people from eight different households would be able to meet outdoors.
Significantly, all our shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants would be able to reopen indoors, and our leisure, tourism and visitor attractions could welcome people inside once again.
It will be fantastic to see people able to enjoy days out together and I would encourage you to give our businesses in Renfrewshire the much-needed boost they need at this time and look locally first.
Our Spend Local campaign continues to promote everything we have on our doorstep so please before you head further afield, visit a local business in Renfrewshire and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.
The changes due to come into place are the most significant for some time so take the time to visit the Scottish Government website in advance and ensure you know what you can and cannot do from May 17.
As I mentioned earlier though, it’s important that we all continue to keep the virus at bay by following the rules so, if you have symptoms, please selfisolate and book a test online for one of our two test centres in Renfrewshire - Glasgow Airport or Bridge Street in Paisley.
You can also give yourself peace of mind if you don’t have symptoms by ordering a home testing kit to be delivered for free or visiting one of our community testing sites when available.
Recent sites have been in Johnstone, Linwood and Paisley and more will be available across the area when required.
This is your chance to help minimise the spread of the virus, keep yourself and others safe and ensure that we continue to move in the right direction and through the restriction levels.
Finally, I’d like to congratulate those elected to represent Renfrewshire at the Scottish Parliament and I look forward to an ongoing working relationship as we improve the lives of everyone who lives and working without our communities.
I want to thank the hundreds of staff who were involved in all aspects of the election last week and ensured that it ran smoothly across the three days of polling and counting.
The level of planning required to deliver an election is enormous, especially with the additional health and safety measures required during the current pandemic, and our election team did a fantastic job to ensure local people could cast their votes safely.
Our cleaners, polling staff, enumerators and so many others all played a huge part in its success and my thanks go to each and every one of you for your efforts.
It was great to see such an increased turnout for this election as it’s so important that we all have our say on who is elected to positions of power.
If you didn’t vote this time, please use your voice at the next election.
You can see the results of the election on our website at: www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/ SPElection2021Results.