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, Hamilton and East Kilbride districts, and some outer areas of Glasgow district ; all were previously within the Strathclyde region from 1975 but in historic Lanarkshire prior to that.
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Political control

The council has been under no overall control since 2017. Following the 2022 election a Labour-led partnership with the Liberal Democrats and some of the independent councillors formed to run the council.
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:

Leadership

The role of provost is largely ceremonial in South Lanarkshire. They chair full council meetings and have an ambassadorial role as the council's civic figurehead. The provost is chosen from among the councillors and is expected to be politically impartial, although they are given an additional casting vote in the event of a tie. The provosts since 1996 have been:
Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council, who chairs the council's executive committee. The first leader, Tom McCabe, was previously the leader of Hamilton District Council, one of the new council's predecessors. 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 at the 2017 election. The leaders of South Lanarkshire Council since 1996 have been:

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to March 2025, the composition of the council was as follows:
Two of the independent councillors sit together as the "Independent Group", and the other does not belong to a group. The next election is due in 2027.

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:
YearSeatsSNPLabourConservativeLiberal DemocratsGreenIndependent / OtherNotes
YearSeatsNotes
1995738612200Labour majority
19996710542100New ward boundaries. Labour majority
20036710502203Labour majority
20076724308203New ward boundaries.
20126728333102
201764272214100New ward boundaries.
20226427247312Labour / Lib Dem minority administration

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. The 17 storey, 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 each electing one councillor using the First past the post method.
Since the 2007 South Lanarkshire Council election, there are 20 council wards in South Lanarkshire, each serving a population ranging from 13,000 to 20,000 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.
NumberWard NameLocationSeats
Population
1Clydesdale West419,124
2Clydesdale North314,777
3Clydesdale East313,065
4Clydesdale South314,647
5Avondale and Stonehouse317,089
6East Kilbride South316,688
7East Kilbride Central South316,177
8East Kilbride Central North316,799
9East Kilbride West313,695
10East Kilbride East314,308
11Rutherglen South315,448
12Rutherglen Central and North314,489
13Cambuslang West314,177
14Cambuslang East316,915
15Blantyre316,127
16Bothwell and Uddingston313,187
17Hamilton North and East315,036
18Hamilton West and Earnock418,618
19Hamilton South421,793
20Larkhall418,444
Total64320,530