East Kilbride Central North (ward) explained

East Kilbride Central North
Year:2007
Council:South Lanarkshire
Region:Scotland
Map1:East Kilbride Central North.svg
Map Entity:South Lanarkshire
Map Year:2007–2017
Previous:Blacklaw
Calderglen
East Mains
Heatheryknowe
Maxwellton
West Mains
Electorate:12,861 (2022)
Population:16,547 (2021)[1]
Elects Howmany:3
Councillor1:Grant Ferguson
Party1:Scottish National Party
Councillor2:Joe Fagan
Party2:Scottish Labour Party
Councillor3:Hugh McDonald
Party3:Scottish National Party
Towns:East Kilbride (part of)
Scot Parl:East Kilbride
Scot Region:Central Scotland
Westminster:East Kilbride and Strathaven

East Kilbride Central North is one of the 20 electoral wards of South Lanarkshire Council. Created in 2007, the ward initially elected four councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 16,547 people. Following a boundary review, the ward has elected three councillors since 2017.

The ward has produced strong results for both Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) with the parties initially sharing the seats evenly. However, since 2017, the ward has become an SNP stronghold with the party holding two of the three seats.

Following the 2022 election, the ward has been the seat of the leader of South Lanarkshire Council, Cllr Joe Fagan.[2]

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 North was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained the majority of the former East Mains and West Mains wards as well as part of the former Heatheryknowe and Calderglen wards and all of the former Blacklaw and Maxwellton wards. As the name suggests, East Kilbride Central North covers the parts of East Kilbride just north of the town centre with the southern boundary being the Queensway (A726) dual carriageway, including the central retail and administrative area itself as well as the neighbourhoods of East Mains, Kirktonholme, the Village and West Mains, most of St Leonards (west of High Common Road) and part of Calderwood (Maxwellton/west of Calderwood Road).[3] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, a few streets in the east of the ward between Calderwood Road, Morrishall Road and Hunter Primary School were transferred to the East Kilbride East ward. Although this only had a small effect on the electorate, it caused the loss of one seat from the original four to balance with other wards with similar populations.[4]

Councillors

ElectionCouncillors
2007Alice Marie Mitchell
(Labour)
Sheena Wardhaugh
(SNP)
Anne Maggs
(SNP)
Christopher Thompson
(Labour)
2012
2017Joe Fagan
(Labour)
Hugh MacDonald
(SNP)
colspan=2; rowspan=3
2019 by-electionGrant Ferguson
(SNP)
2022

Election results

2022 election

See main article: 2022 South Lanarkshire Council election.

2017 election

See main article: 2017 South Lanarkshire Council election.

2012 election

See main article: 2012 South Lanarkshire Council election.

2007 election

See main article: 2007 South Lanarkshire Council election.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: East Kilbride Central North . Scottish Government . 9 March 2023.
  2. Web site: Labour-led administration takes over South Lanarkshire Council . BBC . 18 May 2022 . 19 May 2022.
  3. Web site: Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; South Lanarkshire Council Area . Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland . May 2006 . 27 February 2023.
  4. Web site: Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; South Lanarkshire Council Area . Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland . May 2016 . 27 February 2023.