East Kilbride West is one of the 20

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and dist ...

South Lanarkshire Council South Lanarkshire Council ( gd, Comhairle Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas) is the unitary authority serving the South Lanarkshire council area in Scotland. The council has its headquarters in Hamilton, has 16,000 employees, and a budget of almost £1b ...

. Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...

electoral system and covers an area with a population of 13,737 people. The ward has politically been split between the Scottish National Party (SNP),

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

. Each party had held one of the three seats from the ward's creation until Cllr David Watson resigned from the SNP to become an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

in 2018. The 2022 election saw the SNP regain their seat from the Conservatives.

Boundaries

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the

2007 Scottish local elections The 2007 Scottish local elections were held on 3 May 2007, the same day as Scottish Parliament elections and local elections in parts of England. All 32 Scottish councils had all their seats up for election – all Scottish councils are unitar ...

. As a result of the

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 9) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which provided, amongst other things, for the election of councillors to the local authorities in Scotland by the single transferable vote system. The Commissi ...

, local elections in Scotland would use the

electoral system from 2007 onwards so East Kilbride West was formed from an amalgamation of several previous

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

wards. It contained the majority of the former Stewartfield ward, part of the previous Hairmyres/Crosshouse and Lindsay wards as well as all of the former Mossneuk/Kittoch ward and a small area from each of the former East Mains and West Mains wards. East Kilbride West covers an area in the west of South Lanarkshire next to its boundaries with Glasgow City Council and

East Renfrewshire Council East Renfrewshire ( sco, Aest Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975, it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas of ...

. Its territory covers the parts of

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

on the north-west and western peripheries of the town, including the neighbourhoods of Gardenhall,

Hairmyres Hairmyres is an area of East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, situated on the west side of the town, close to the main road to Eaglesham and Kilmarnock (also with access to the major A726 Queensway/Glasgow South Orbital dual carriagewa ...

Mossneuk Mossneuk is a predominantly residential area in the South-West of the Scottish new town East Kilbride, in South Lanarkshire. The area has very few facilities within in it, as it is served by shops and conveniences by the nearby areas of Greenh ...

Nerston Nerston is a village situated on the northern green-belt boundary of the new town of East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Etymology The name Nerston is originally a Scots corruption of Near-town.'Nair', 'Ner', 'Ners', and 'Naris' ...

(the brownfield residential developments, but not the older separate hamlet),

Newlandsmuir Newlandsmuir is an area of the Scottish new town East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designate ...

, Philipshill and Stewartfield, plus the College Milton industrial area and the outlying village of

Thorntonhall Thorntonhall ( sco, Thorntounhauch, gd, Dail Bhaile Dhealgaiche) is an affluent village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, lying around to the south of Glasgow, and around west of East Kilbride. The village lies just east of the boundary of East ...

. Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the

2017 Scottish local elections The 2017 Scottish local elections were held on Thursday 4 May, in all 32 local authorities. The SNP retained its position as the largest party in terms of votes and councillors, despite suffering minor losses. The Conservatives made gains and d ...

Boundaries

Councillors

Election results

2022 election

2017 election

2012 election

2010 by-election

2007 election

Notes

References