South Lanarkshire Council

South Lanarkshire Council is the unitary authority serving the South Lanarkshire council area in Scotland. The council has its headquarters in Hamilton, has 16,000 employees, and an annual budget of almost £1bn. The large and varied geographical territory takes in rural and upland areas, market towns such as Lanark, Strathaven and Carluke, the urban burghs of Rutherglen, Cambuslang, and East Kilbride which was Scotland's first new town. The area was formed in 1996 from the areas of Clydesdale,^[2] Hamilton and East Kilbride districts, and some outer areas of Glasgow district (Rutherglen/Fernhill, Cambuslang/Halfway and part of King's Park/Toryglen); all were previously within the Strathclyde region from 1975 but in historic Lanarkshire prior to that.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

South Lanarkshire Council
Unitary Authority Council
Coat of arms
Council logo
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Founded	1 April 1996
Leadership
Provost	Margaret Cooper, Independent Group since 18 May 2022
Leader	Joe Fagan, Labour since 18 May 2022
Chief Executive	Paul Manning since 2023[1]
Structure
Seats	64
Political groups	Administration (30)   Labour (25)   Liberal Democrat (3)   Independent Group (2) Opposition (34)   SNP (25)   Conservative (7)   Green (1)   Independent (1)
Elections
Voting system	Single transferable vote
Last election	5 May 2022
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Council Offices, Almada Street, Hamilton, ML3 0AA
Website
www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk

Political control

The first election to South Lanarkshire Council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows:^[9]

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1996–2007
	No overall control	2007–2013
	Labour	2013–2017
	No overall control	2017–

Leadership

South Lanarkshire operates a cabinet style system, with key decisions being taken by the executive committee, under the leadership of the Council Leader,^[10] and approved by the council, chaired by the provost.

The first leader of South Lanarkshire Council, selected from among the sitting councillors, was Tom McCabe who previously held the same office at Hamilton District.^[11] When McCabe was elected as an MSP in 1999, the role went to his deputy Eddie McAvoy - brother of one of the region's MPs Tommy McAvoy - who held the post for the next 18 years until his retirement ahead of the 2017 election.^[12][13] The new leader from 2017 was John Ross.^[14]

The ambassadorial role of provost is also filled by one of the serving councillors.^[15] Office holders include:

• Sam Casserly (1995–1999) - previous provost of Hamilton district^[11][16]
• Alan Dick (1999–2003)^[17]
• Mushtaq Ahmad (2003–2007)^[18]
• Russell Clearie (2007–2012)^[19][20]
• Eileen Logan (2012–2017) - previous provost of Clydesdale district^[21][22]
• Ian McAllan (2017–2022)^[23]
• Margaret Cooper (2022–present)

The leaders of the council since 1996 have been:^[24]

Councillor	Party		From	To
Tom McCabe		Labour	1 Apr 1996	6 May 1999
Eddie McAvoy		Labour	May 1999	4 May 2017
John Ross		SNP	18 May 2017	May 2022
Joe Fagan		Labour	18 May 2022

Current composition

The results of the last local elections on 5 May 2022 were:^[25]

	Party	Councillors
	Scottish National Party	27
	Labour	24
	Conservative	7
	Liberal Democrats	3
	Independent Group	2
	Green	1

Following the defection of East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow MP Lisa Cameron from the SNP to the Conservatives in October 2023, her husband – Cllr Mark Horsham – stood back from his role as business manager within the SNP group^[26] before resigning from the party to sit as an Independent 10 days later. He did not join the 'Independent Group' with the other independent councillors.^[27]

In May 2023, East Kilbride West councillor Ali Salamati resigned his seat for work reasons triggering a by-election^[28] which Labour won.^[29] Therefore, as of 11th July 2023, the composition of the Council is:

	Party	Councillors
	Scottish National Party	25
	Labour	25
	Conservative	7
	Liberal Democrats	3
	Independent Group	2
	Green	1
	Independent	1

Elections

Since 2007 elections have been held every five years under the single transferable vote system, introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Election results since 1995 have been as follows:^[9]

Year	Seats	SNP	Labour	Conservative	Liberal Democrats	Green	Independent / Other	Notes
1995	73	8	61	2	2	0	0	Labour majority
1999	67	10	54	2	1	0	0	New ward boundaries.[30] Labour majority
2003	67	10	50	2	2	0	3	Labour majority
2007	67	24	30	8	2	0	3	New ward boundaries.[31]
2012	67	28	33	3	1	0	2
2017	64	27	22	14	1	0	0	New ward boundaries.[32]
2022	64	27	24	7	3	1	2	Labour / Lib Dem minority coalition

Premises

The Council Headquarters building, on Almada Street, Hamilton, was built as the Lanark County Buildings in 1963, and designed by county architect David Gordon Bannerman.^{[33][34][35][36][37]} The 17 storey, 200 feet (61 m) tower is the tallest building in the council area, is Category A-listed, and is a highly visible landmark across this part of the Clyde Valley. The modernist design was influenced by the United Nations building in New York City. At the front of the building is the circular council chamber, and a plaza with water features. Between 1975 and 1996 the building had been used as a sub-regional office of Strathclyde Regional Council, with Hamilton District Council using Hamilton Townhouse in that time. On the creation of South Lanarkshire Council in 1996 the new council chose to base itself at the Almada Street building.

Wards

In the council's initial 12 years, individual wards (73 in 1995, adjusted down to 67 in 1999 and 2003) each electing one councillor using the First past the post method.^[38][39]

Since the 2007 South Lanarkshire Council election, there are 20 council wards in South Lanarkshire,^[40] each serving a population ranging from 13,000 to 20,000^[41] and each ward represented on the council by 3 or 4 councillors elected using single transferable vote; in 2007 and 2012 this produced a total of 67 available seats, which was adjusted down to 64 in 2017 along with boundary adjustments, although the same number of wards overall.

Map of South Lanarkshire's 20 wards, using 2017 boundaries

Number	Ward Name	Location	Seats (2017)	Population (2018)
1	Clydesdale West		4	19,124
2	Clydesdale North		3	14,777
3	Clydesdale East		3	13,065
4	Clydesdale South		3	14,647
5	Avondale and Stonehouse		3	17,089
6	East Kilbride South		3	16,688
7	East Kilbride Central South		3	16,177
8	East Kilbride Central North		3	16,799
9	East Kilbride West		3	13,695
10	East Kilbride East		3	14,308
11	Rutherglen South		3	15,448
12	Rutherglen Central and North		3	14,489
13	Cambuslang West		3	14,177
14	Cambuslang East		3	16,915
15	Blantyre		3	16,127
16	Bothwell and Uddingston		3	13,187
17	Hamilton North and East		3	15,036
18	Hamilton West and Earnock		4	18,618
19	Hamilton South		4	21,793
20	Larkhall		4	18,444
Total			64	320,530