Paisley and Renfrew have not been shortlisted for the inaugural UK Town of Culture competition, it has been confirmed. Labour MP Alison Taylor submitted a joint application for the towns, emphasising their shared history as two parts of Renfrewshire.
Funding at Stake
If they had been successful, £60,000 would have been secured to work on a full bid, with the winner of a £3 million grant announced next year. However, the pair were not among the selected cohort in the 'medium towns' category, which included Corby, Great Yarmouth, Leith, Pontypridd, and Port Talbot.
Ms Taylor, who represents the Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituency, said: "Obviously it is disappointing for the Paisley and Renfrew proposal not to progress but there are clearly some very strong proposals from across the UK and especially from other parts of Scotland. I'm sure we would all wish them well. I am still very enthusiastic about the potential of the creative and cultural sector across the constituency and will of course look to support other proposals and funding opportunities to showcase our communities."
Application Focus
The application focused on shared cultural and social ties between Paisley and Renfrew and emphasised the connectivity between the two. It was anticipated it would provide opportunities for creative cultural organisations to work together and separately to produce original work and support performance and events. However, the emphasis for the initial bid was on potential and opportunity.
She added: "This town of culture opportunity was extremely competitive and I hope that there will be opportunities in the future to showcase the many positive attributes of our area."
Council Decision
Renfrewshire Council did not progress a bid for the UK Government competition but agreed to monitor and review the process and assess its future potential for its towns. A paper on the subject was presented at the leadership board in February. Setting out their reasons, officers explained: "Bidding for a UK Town of Culture event presents some opportunities but also several challenges. It has significantly less relevance for a contemporary Paisley and considering any of the other towns and villages across Renfrewshire, it would also present challenges given the growing maturity of the ambition and ongoing work for developing the destination brand for wider Renfrewshire and all that it has to offer."
The report continued: "The recent resident research carried out in 2025 told us that although culture and events remain important to people, including fostering a sense of civic pride, it also highlighted other priorities that are important to our residents, including supporting those most in need, investment in local communities through essential services such as roads and local community enhancements, all considered to be more important and we want to reflect that in our ongoing resource and funding decisions. The short timescales for this competition and deadline for expressions of interest at the end of March will divert resource from council teams in order to support the requirements of the competition, including developing the partnerships and community support required to demonstrate wide support for such a bid."
In total, 15 towns were shortlisted across three categories for the UK Town of Culture competition after almost 400 entries.
