East Kilbride Central South (ward)

East Kilbride Central South is one of the 20 electoral wards of South Lanarkshire Council. Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 16,985 people.

East Kilbride Central South
South Lanarkshire
Boundary of East Kilbride Central South in South Lanarkshire from 2007–2017.
Population	16,985 (2021)[1]
Electorate	12,012 (2022)
Major settlements	East Kilbride (part of)
Scottish Parliament constituency	East Kilbride
Scottish Parliament region	Central Scotland
UK Parliament constituency	East Kilbride and Strathaven
Current ward
Created	2007 (2007)
Number of councillors	3
Councillor	John Anderson (SNP)
Councillor	Gerry Convery (Labour)
Councillor	Elaine McDougall (SNP)
Created from	Duncanrig Hairmyres/Crosshouse Headhouse Heatheryknowe Westwoodhill

The ward was a Labour stronghold from its creation until 2017 with the party holding two of the three seats. However, it has since become a Scottish National Party (SNP) stronghold with the party holding two of the three seats from 2017 to present.

Boundaries

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2007 Scottish local elections. As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, local elections in Scotland would use the single transferable vote electoral system from 2007 onwards so East Kilbride Central South was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained the majority of the former Headhouse, part of the former Hairmyres/Crosshouse, Heatheryknowe and Westwoodhill wards as well as all of the former Duncanrig ward. As the name suggests, its territory covers the parts of East Kilbride just south of the town centre which includes Birniehill, Murrayhill, The Murray, Westwood and Westwoodhill with the northern boundary being the Queensway (A726) dual carriageway.^[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, a few streets around Owen Avenue and Dale Avenue which had always generally been considered to belong to The Murray neighbourhood were moved from East Kilbride South to East Kilbride Central South.^[3]

Councillors

Election	Councillors
2007		John Anderson (SNP)		Gerry Convery (Labour)		Pat Watters (Labour)
2012	Susan Kerr (Labour)
2017			Collette Stevenson (SNP)
2022	Elaine McDougall (SNP)

Election results

2022 election

Main article: 2022 South Lanarkshire Council election

East Kilbride Central South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SNP	John Anderson (incumbent)	30.2	1,570
	Labour	Gerry Convery (incumbent)	26.7	1,387
	SNP	Elaine McDougall	13.7	713	911	915	918	950	955	1,091	1,101	1,284
	Labour	Lisa Quarrell	12.0	623	632	686	693	700	744	783	977
	Conservative	Alan Fraser	9.1	473	474	480	486	488	516	526
	Scottish Green	Alan Cresswell	3.9	202	228	231	234	246	280
	Liberal Democrats	Lorna Cammock	2.7	138	143	147	151	157
	Alba	Rita Baillie	1.3	66	74	75	76
	UKIP	David Mackay	0.6	30	30	31
Electorate: 12,012   Valid: 5,202   Spoilt: 132   Quota: 1,301   Turnout: 44.4%

Source:^[4][5]

2017 election

Main article: 2017 South Lanarkshire Council election

East Kilbride Central South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	John Anderson (incumbent)	31.4	1,705
	Labour	Gerry Convery (incumbent)	26.2	1,425
	Conservative	Willie Chalmers	15.2	825	832	835	863	888	988
	SNP	Collette Stevenson	14.5	790	1,067	1,070	1,074	1,180	1,254	1,394
	Labour	Susan Kerr (incumbent)	6.9	376	392	441	468	514
	Scottish Green	Iain Hughes	4.0	220	241	243	264
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Watson	1.8	98	101	102
Electorate: 12,273   Valid: 5,439   Spoilt: 145   Quota: 1360   Turnout: 45.5%

Source:^[6][7]

2012 election

Main article: 2012 South Lanarkshire Council election

East Kilbride Central South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	John Anderson (incumbent)	38.0	1,721
	Labour	Gerry Convery (incumbent)	35.3	1,598
	Labour	Susan Kerr	12.8	581	614	1,012	1,044	1,108	1,306
	SNP	Duncan McLean	6.8	306	795	804	826	860
	Conservative	Isabel Perratt	4.9	223	232	237	254
	Liberal Democrats	Alasdair Sutherland	2.1	95	106	115
Electorate: 10,854   Valid: 4,524   Spoilt: 133   Quota: 1,132   Turnout: 41.7%

Source:^[8]

2007 election

Main article: 2007 South Lanarkshire Council election

East Kilbride Central South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	John Anderson	32.0	1,970
	Labour	Gerry Convery[note 1]	27.5	1,692
	Labour	Pat Watters[note 2]	17.7	1,089	1,145	1,247	1,281	1,329	1,388	???	???
	Conservative	Anne Stewart	6.2	383	408	410	414	466
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Linskey	5.1	316	378	387	408	481	601	???
	East Kilbride Alliance	Iain Cameron	5.0	309	362	367	387
	Scottish Green	Alison Campbell	4.1	254	326	331	396	507	584
	Scottish Socialist	Mark Sands	2.4	150	194	198
Electorate: 11,524   Valid: 6,163   Quota: 1,541   Turnout: 54.8%

Source:^[9][10]

Notes

1. Returning councillor for Heatheryknowe single-member ward.
2. Returning councillor for Headhouse single-member ward.

References

1. "East Kilbride Central South". Scottish Government. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
2. "Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; South Lanarkshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2006. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
3. "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; South Lanarkshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
4. "Ward 7 East Kilbride Central South Declaration of Results Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
5. "Ward 7 East Kilbride Central South Candidate Votes Per Stage Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
6. "Ward 7 East Kilbride Central South Declaration of Results Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
7. "Ward 7 East Kilbride Central South Candidate Votes Per Stage Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
8. "Local Government election results 2012". South Lanarkshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
9. Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Archive Project - 2007 - South Lanarkshire". Retrieved 19 February 2023.
10. Bochel, H. M.; Denver, D. T. (2007). Scottish Council Elections 2007 Results and Statistics (PDF). Lincoln: Policy Studies Research Centre, University of Lincoln. ISBN 978-1-874474-36-4. Retrieved 19 February 2023.