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South Lanarkshire

Scots: [Sooth Lanrikshire] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Scottish Gaelic: [Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
South Lanarkshire in Scotland.svg
Coat of arms of South Lanarkshire
Coat of arms
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Country Scotland
Lieutenancy area Lanarkshire
Admin HQ Hamilton
Government
 • Body South Lanarkshire Council
Area
 • Total 684 sq mi (1,772 km2)
Area rank Ranked 11th
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 319,020
 • Rank Ranked 5th
 • Density 466.29/sq mi (180.03/km2)
ONS code S12000029
ISO 3166 code GB-SLK
Largest town East Kilbride
Largest urban area Hamilton, South Lanarkshire

South Lanarkshire (Scots: [Sooth Lanrikshire] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help); Scottish Gaelic: [Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the City of Glasgow and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, also containing many rural towns and villages. It also shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and West Lothian. It includes most of the historic county of Lanarkshire.

South Lanarkshire Council

South Lanarkshire Council has its headquarters in Hamilton, has 16,000 employees, and a budget of almost £1bn. The large and varied council area 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.

There are 20 council wards in South Lanarkshire, each represented on the council by 3 or 4 elected councillors using single transferable vote. South Lanarkshire operates a cabinet style system, with key decisions being taken by the Executive Committee, under the leadership of the Council Leader, and approved by the council, led by the provost.

South Lanarkshire shares borders with the unitary authorities of Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, City of Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, West Lothian and Scottish Borders.

The area was formed in 1996, from the areas of Clydesdale, Hamilton and East Kilbride districts, and some outer areas of Glasgow District (Rutherglen/Fernhill, Cambuslang/Halfway and part of King's Park/Toryglen).

Political composition

South Lanarkshire Local Election Result 2012
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Scottish Labour Party 33 4 1 +3 49.3 43.18 39,895 +3.58
  SNP 28 4 0 +4 41.7 36.37 33,598 +7.17
  Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party 3 0 5 -5 4.5 10.84 10,015 -2.06
  Independent 2 1 2 -1 3.0 2.96 2,734 -2.24
  Scottish Liberal Democrats 1 0 1 -1 1.5 2.75 2,544 -4.45
  Scottish Green Party 0 - - - - 1.44 1,326 -1.26
style="background-color: Template:East Kilbride Alliance/meta/color; width: 3px;" |   East Kilbride Alliance 0 - - - - 0.74 681 -0.46
  United Kingdom Independence Party 0 - - - - 0.56 515 +0.56
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Unionist Party (1986)/meta/color; width: 3px;" |   Scottish Unionist Party (1986) 0 - - - - 0.30 278 -0.40
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Christian Party/meta/color; width: 3px;" |   Scottish Christian Party 0 - - - - 0.25 230 +0.15
style="background-color: Template:Christian Peoples Alliance/meta/color; width: 3px;" |   Christian Peoples Alliance 0 - - - - 0.23 209 +0.23
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party/meta/color; width: 3px;" |   Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party 0 - - - - 0.22 199 +0.22
  Solidarity (Scotland) 0 - - - - 0.18 166 -0.02

Since the 2012 local government election, a by-election was held for Rutherglen South (Ward 11) on Thursday 14 February 2013 and for Hamilton South (Ward 19) on Thursday 24 October 2013. The current political composition is 2 Independents, 3 Conservative, 35 Labour, 1 Liberal Democrat and 26 SNP. The Council is currently ruled by a Labour Group majority administration.

Towns and villages

Principal settlements

3

Other settlements

3

Places of interest

Tertiary education

See also

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