Clydesdale South (ward)

Clydesdale South
South Lanarkshire
Boundary of Clydesdale South in South Lanarkshire from 2007–2017.
Population	14,621 (2021) [1]
Electorate	11,706 (2022)
Major settlements	Lesmahagow
Scottish Parliament constituency	Clydesdale
Scottish Parliament region	South Scotland
UK Parliament constituency	Hamilton and Clyde Valley Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
Current ward
Created	2007 (2007)
Number of councillors	3
Councillor	Mark Horsham (SNP)
Councillor	Ross Gowland (Labour)
Councillor	Ross Lambie (Reform UK)
Created from	Blackwood Clyde Valley Douglas Lesmahagow

Clydesdale 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 14,621 people.

The ward was previously a Labour stronghold with the party holding all three seats between 2014 and 2017. However, it has since become split between Labour, the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Conservatives.

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 Clydesdale South was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained the majority of the former Lesmahagow ward and part of the former Clyde Valley ward as well as all of the former Blackwood and Douglas wards. Unlike the name suggests, Clydesdale South covers a primarily rural area in western Clydesdale in the southwest of South Lanarkshire next to its boundary with East Ayrshire. The largest settlements in the ward are Blackwood/Kirkmuirhill and Lesmahagow and it includes the villages of Coalburn, Douglas and Rigside. ^[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's boundaries were not changed. ^[3]

Councillors

Year	Councillors
2007		Archie Manson (SNP)		Danny Meikle (Labour)		Alex McInnes (Labour)
2012	George Greenshields (Labour/ Independent)
2014 by-election			Gordon Muir (Labour)
2017			Mark Horsham (SNP/ Independent)		Colin McGavigan (Conservative/ Independent)
2018
2020
2022		Ross Gowland (Labour)			Ross Lambie (Conservative/ Reform UK)
2023
2025

Election results

2022 election

Main article: 2022 South Lanarkshire Council election

Clydesdale South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Mark Horsham (incumbent)	33.5	1,762
	Labour	Ross Gowland	21.7	1,144	1,199	1,204	1,390
	Conservative	Ross Lambie	18.7	986	993	1,006	1,019	1,031	1,094	1,119	1,447
	Independent	George Greenshields (incumbent)	12.1	635	682	688	701	719	867	987
	Independent	Colin McGavigan (incumbent)	5.7	298	329	341	345	352
	Labour	Imogen Walker	4.2	219	248	251
	Scottish Green	Ann McGuinness	3.1	164	324	330	344	352	392
	UKIP	Janice MacKay	1.0	52	57
Electorate: 11,706  Valid: 5,260  Spoilt: 68  Quota: 1,316  Turnout: 45.5%

Source: ^{[4] [5]}

2017 election

Main article: 2017 South Lanarkshire Council election

Clydesdale South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Conservative	Colin McGavigan [note 1]	22.0	1,198	1,221	1,243	1,260	1,314	1,324	1,333	1,411
	Labour	George Greenshields (incumbent) [note 2]	18.9	1,031	1,038	1,050	1,076	1,206	1,229	1,280	1,992
	SNP	Mark Horsham	16.0	874	875	884	915	948	1,652
	Labour	Gordon Muir (incumbent)	15.9	866	868	880	898	983	1,022	1,053
	SNP	Sandra Mills	13.9	757	759	761	801	835
	Independent	Danny Meikle	7.8	425	428	434	443
	Scottish Green	Craig Dalzell	2.6	139	148	174
	Liberal Democrats	Kaitey Blair	1.8	97	101
	UKIP	Janice MacKay	1.2	65
Electorate: 11,568  Valid: 5,452  Spoilt: 89  Quota: 1,364  Turnout: 47.9%

Source: ^{[8] [9]}

2014 by-election

Clydesdale South by-election (5 June 2014) - 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Gordon Muir	40.8	1,492	1,512	1,559	1,819	2,366
	SNP	George Sneddon	32.0	1,170	1,203	1,260	1,356
	Conservative	Donna Hood	18.0	659	674	744
	UKIP	Donald MacKay	6.4	233	247
	Scottish Green	Ruth Thomas	2.8	104
Electorate: 11,979  Valid: 3,658  Spoilt: 52  Quota: 1,830  Turnout: 31.0%

Source: ^[10]

2012 election

Main article: 2012 South Lanarkshire Council election

Clydesdale South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Archie Manson (incumbent) [note 3]	35.0	1,625
	Labour	George Greenshields	24.7	1,149	1,170
	Labour	Alex McInnes (incumbent)	18.8	875	889	894	921	1,044	1,251
	Conservative	Colin McGavigan	10.5	487	494	494	562
	SNP	Tom McDonald	6.7	313	704	704	736	852
	UKIP	Chris McEwan	4.3	199	207	207
Electorate: 11,620  Valid: 4,648  Spoilt: 113  Quota: 1,163  Turnout: 40.0%

Source: ^[12]

2007 election

Main article: 2007 South Lanarkshire Council election

Clydesdale South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Danny Meikle [note 4]	27.7	1,709
	Labour	Alex McInnes [note 5]	20.2	1,245	1,351	???	1,514	???
	SNP	Archie Manson [note 6]	18.7	1,156	1,164	???	1,341	???
	SNP	David Smart	18.6	1,148	1,159	???	1,334
	Conservative	John Baillie	11.9	734	740	???
	Scottish Green	Billy McLean	3.0	183	185
Electorate: 11,359  Valid: 6,175  Quota: 1,544  Turnout: 55.6%

Source: ^{[13] [14]}

Notes

1. On 29 June 2020, Clydesdale South Conservative councillor Colin McGavigan was suspended from the party over "totally unacceptable and offensive" Facebook posts in relation to the Black Lives Matter protests. ^[6] On 16 February 2021, Cllr McGavigan resigned from the party and became an independent. ^[7]
2. In 2018, Clydesdale South Labour councillor George Greenshields resigned from the party and became an independent.
3. Clydesdale South SNP councillor Archie Manson resigned on 14 March 2014 on health grounds. A by-election was held on 5 June 2014 and won by Labour's Gordon Muir. ^[11]
4. Returning councillor for Douglas single-member ward.
5. Returning councillor for Lesmahagow single-member ward.
6. Returning councillor for Blackwood single-member ward.

References

1. "Clydesdale 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 25 February 2023.
3. "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; South Lanarkshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
4. "Ward 4 Clydesdale South Declaration of Results Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
5. "Ward 4 Clydesdale South Candidate Votes Per Stage Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
6. Hutcheon, Paul (29 June 2020). "Scottish Tory councillor suspended over 'totally unacceptable and offensive' Facebook posts". Daily Record. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
7. Hutcheon, Paul (16 February 2021). "Councillor quits Scottish Conservatives after Black Lives Matter Facebook row". Daily Record. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
8. "Ward 4 Clydesdale South Declaration of Results Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
9. "Ward 4 Clydesdale South Candidate Votes Per Stage Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
10. "Clydesdale South by-election - 5 June 2014". South Lanarkshire Council. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
11. Beamish, Claudia (13 June 2014). "Congratulations to Cllr Gordon Muir". claudiabeamish.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021.
12. "Local Government election results 2012". South Lanarkshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
13. Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Archive Project - 2007 - South Lanarkshire" . Retrieved 19 February 2023.
14. 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.