A request for Renfrewshire Council to provide civic hospitality for an Orange Order anniversary celebration has been rejected following a split vote by councillors.
The Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board considered a request from Paisley Loyal Orange Lodge No. 6 District seeking civic hospitality to mark its 150th anniversary.
The organisation had requested a sit-down dinner with a welcome drink at its premises on Saturday, 3rd October 2026, for approximately 95 people. Council officers had recommended approval of the request following consultation with Provost Lorraine Cameron, with the proposed hospitality package estimated to cost £2,100. The funding would have come from the council’s civic hospitality budget.
However, during Thursday’s meeting, Renfrewshire Council Leader Councillor Iain Nicolson moved that the request be refused.
He said: “We are not saying that we would never accept an application from the organisation if it was for a different purpose or for a different reason, but I think that the fact that it is trying to celebrate 150 years of history has to reflect on that history.
“With regard to how the organisation has reconciled itself to its past behaviour and the way in which it has operated, that is quite a straightforward rationale behind my reasons for moving the motion today.”
Councillor James McLaren proposed that the decision be delayed to allow further information to be obtained from the organisation rather than refusing the request outright.
Councillor Neil Graham supported that proposal.
He said: “The organisation said that it is looking forward, and I think that that is a good thing. I do not think that we should be refusing it.
“Certainly, in my time on the Finance Board, nothing has been refused that I can remember.”
Provost Lorraine Cameron told councillors she had originally been satisfied that the application met the council’s criteria for civic hospitality.
She said: “As is the usual procedure, this recommendation was brought to the board following consultation with myself, as you can see, and council officers.
“I was satisfied at that point that the organisation met the criteria for civic hospitality, given the information that it provided to me at the time.
“I apply the same process to every claim for civic hospitality. Some meet the criteria, some do not, and those you will never see come to the board.”
The Provost later abstained from the vote.
Following a roll-call vote, councillors voted by seven votes to five, with one abstention, to reject the request.