A politician has branded proposed changes to Renfrewshire's parliamentary constituencies as "bizarre".
The Boundary Commission prompted a storm when they revealed plans to "carve up" the county's parliamentary seats as part of changes to boundaries in Scottish constituencies.
Under the plans,three new parliamentary seats would be created from the existing Renfrewshire zones.
The proposals suggest splitting Renfrewshire across the new constituencies of Renfrew North, Renfrew South, as opposed to the two current seats; Paisley and Renfrewshire North and Paisley and Renfrewshire South.
But the plans have drawn criticism as parts of Renfrewshire would be thrown in alongside parts of Glasgow and parts of Inverclyde in one seat.
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Current constituency arrangements were drawn up in 2005, prompting some to believe reform is needed.
However, the propsals have sparked widespread controversy.
They form part of a wider plan to reduce the number of constituencies in Scotland from 59 to 57, with recommendations that each area contains no fewer than 69,724 voters and no more than 77,062.
Despite agreement that reforms are "overdue", the plans have sparked fury from many.
Paisley Northwest councillor Kenny MacLaren says he has updated his response to the proposals, currently out to consultation, over a move to realign Houston and Bridge of Weir, which will see them included alongside Inverclyde and Glasgow's Cardonald suburb in a planned new Renfrew North seat.
The SNP's councillor MacLaren said: "The proposals by the Boundary Commission for the new constituency boundaries for Renfrewshire are bizarre and don’t take into account local communities.
"The proposals of the Boundary Commission are simply bizarre. Instead of looking at Inverclyde’s close transport links with North Ayrshire they instead carve up parts of Renfrewshire to boost the number of voters in Inverclyde."
He added: "This then results in parts of Glasgow having to be included in the Renfrewshire North constituency. If Glasgow has too many voters, why are other areas with closer links such as East Renfrewshire not aligned with Glasgow instead?
"Throughout the whole process Renfrewshire has been carved up to suit neighbouring constituencies while we also see council wards split between different parliamentary constituencies – which is apparently against the Boundary Commission’s own guidelines."
The fuming politician also said: "Of course, the worst decision is to drop Renfrewshire and Paisley from the names of the new constituencies and to rename them as Renfrew North and Renfrew South – despite the fact that Renfrew is not part of the Renfrew South constituency.
"I can’t think of any other constituency which has been named after a town in a neighbouring constituency. Maybe if this is such a good idea the Boundary Commission could rename some of the London constituencies as Manchester South!"
The Boundary Commission is undertaking a second round of consultations on the plans.We revealed in December how Renfrewshire Council was also critical of the move.
Thire response from the head of corporate governance, Ken Graham, said: "Renfrewshire is included in a grouping with Inverclyde and Glasgow City Council. The logic for this is difficult to understand.
"Any grouping involving Inverclyde ought to have also included North Ayrshire and Arran.
"Parts of the Inverclyde constituency have as good links to the North Ayrshire and Arran area as they do with the areas of Renfrewshire included in the proposed Inverclyde and Bridge of Weir constituency.
"No explanation is given as to why Renfrewshire is the only neighbouring area included in a grouping with Glasgow."
And added: "The council believes the focus should be on the boundaries between Glasgow and all of its neighbouring authorities. The inclusion of part of a Glasgow ward within the boundaries of the proposed Renfrew North constituency is not supported."
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