A NEW walking and cycle route between Renfrew and Paisley has moved one step closer to fruition now Renfrewshire Council has awarded a contract for the works.

Running parallel to the White Cart, the 5km route will begin on the banks of the River Clyde in Renfrew and finish up at Paisley Gilmour Street train station.

It will provide an active travel link between the two towns for the first time in decades, with direct access to Westway Business Park, West College Scotland and the former Chivas bottling plant, which is set to become the new site for Paisley Grammar School.

In documents prepared for a special meeting of the council’s finance board, it was confirmed a contract worth almost £1million has now been awarded to JH Civil Engineering for the construction work.

It comes after the council secured an award of £935,000 from the Scottish Government’s Clyde Mission Fund earlier this year.

The route will also connect to walking and cycling paths at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) being developed next to Glasgow Airport, via a new bridge at Wright Street, in Paisley.

The contract award should have been announced in March but was delayed due to ongoing negotiations with Railway Paths Ltd, as the council looks to take charge of some of the route under its ownership.

A report to the finance board states: “The proposed active travel route between Renfrew Riverside and the River Clyde and Paisley town centre will complete a significant gap in the existing Renfrewshire active travel network.”

Almost 40 companies expressed an interest in the project during the tendering process, with five submitting a response before the closing date.
JH Civil Engineering was chosen after an assessment of the final candidates.