South Lanarkshire covers the southern part of the historic county of Lanarkshire. Lanarkshire had existed as a shire from around the time of King David I, who ruled Scotland from 1124 to 1153.[3] The county took its name from the original county town at Lanark, which had been the site of the first Parliament of Scotland under Kenneth II in 978.[4]
Local government was reformed in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which replaced Scotland's counties, burghs and landward districts with a two-tier structure of upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Lanarkshire became part of the Strathclyde region, which was divided in 19 districts.[5]
South Lanarkshire was created in 1996, when the regions and districts created in 1975 were replaced with single-tier council areas. South Lanarkshire covered the whole area of three of the abolished Strathclyde districts, being Clydesdale, East Kilbride and Hamilton, plus an area including Rutherglen and Cambuslang from the City of Glasgow district.[6][7] The Rutherglen and Cambuslang area was included following a referendum on whether to stay in Glasgow or become part of the new South Lanarkshire council area.[8][9]
South Lanarkshire is served by South Lanarkshire Council. The council has its headquarters in Hamilton at the Lanark County Buildings. The building, situated on Almada Street, was built as the Lanark County Buildings in 1963, and designed by county architect David Gordon Bannerman.[10][11][12][13][14] The 17 storey, 200 feet (61m) 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.
Since the 2007 South Lanarkshire Council election, there are 20 council wards in South Lanarkshire,[15] each serving a population ranging from 13,000 to 20,000[16] 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. The most recent election saw the Scottish National Party again returned with the most seats at 27 but remained shy of an overall majority. Labour made small gains to again finish second with an increased number of members with 24 – up two from 2017 – while the Conservatives lost half their number to return seven members. The Liberal Democrats and independents both made two gains to return three and two members respectively while the Greens won their first ever seat in South Lanarkshire. On 18 May, Labour and the Lib Dems announced that they would run the council as a coalition, alongside one independent councillor, with support from the Conservatives.
Economy
In 2022, it was estimated that South Lanarkshire was home to 9,500 businesses, primarily within the food and drink, construction, manufacturing, Health & Social Care and logistics sectors. The area has the highest percentages of positive destination rates across Scotland for young people leaving secondary education, and the local authority consistently outperforms other local authorities across Scotland in new housing completions.[17]
In December 2023, South Lanarkshire's employment rate was 77.1%, higher than the Scottish average, with roughly 4,700 (2.9%) people in South Lanarkshire unemployed in December 2023. This marked a decrease in the unemployment rate in South Lanarkshire, with the percentage of unemployed in the area standing at 3.3% in the previous year (December 2022).[18]
Economic inactivity in South Lanarkshire is lower than it is across Scotland, with 42,300 people (21.2%) of the South Lanarkshire population being classed as "economically inactive" in December 2023, in comparison to 34,500 people (17.6%) in December 2022. In Scotland as a whole, 22.5% were classed as economically inactive in December 2023.[18]
In 2003, South Lanarkshire Council embarked on a Schools Modernisation Programme, which envisioned all school estates being either rebuilt or refubished and modernised.[19] These include 124 primary schools – including 62 with nursery classes and 16 Additional Support Needs (ASN) bases; 17 secondary schools; 12 nursery centres; four ASN primary schools; three ASN secondary schools; and 15 community rooms or wings within the primary school builds. The total cost is about £1.2 billion.[20]
The final primary school to be rebuilt was Black Mount Primary, which officially opened in October 2019[19] (although a new school for the expanding area of Jackton was opened in 2023).[21] At the beginning of 2024, the project was fully completed with the completion of the Early Learning Unit in Hamilton, which is a specialist nursery catering for mainstream and ASN children.[20] At the peak of the project, about nine nurseries and primary schools were being rebuilt each year.[20] It is thought that this was the largest schools modernisation project in Europe,[19] and that the council now has the most modern, well-equipped primary school estate in the whole of Europe.[21]
There are currently about 46,000 children - 15,000 primary and 19,000 secondary pupils - in the school system in South Lanarkshire.[22][20]
Gaelic Medium Education is offered at Mount Cameron Primary School and Calderglen High School, both in East Kilbride.[23]
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