East Kilbride Central North (ward)

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.

East Kilbride Central North
South Lanarkshire
Outline map
Boundary of East Kilbride Central North in South Lanarkshire from 2007–2017.
Population16,547 (2021)[1]
Electorate12,861 (2022)
Major settlementsEast Kilbride (part of)
Scottish Parliament constituencyEast Kilbride
Scottish Parliament regionCentral Scotland
UK Parliament constituencyEast Kilbride and Strathaven
Current ward
Created2007 (2007)
Number of councillors3
CouncillorGrant Ferguson (SNP)
CouncillorJoe Fagan (Labour)
CouncillorHugh McDonald (SNP)
Created fromBlacklaw
Calderglen
East Mains
Heatheryknowe
Maxwellton
West Mains

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

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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

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Election Councillors
2007 Alice Marie Mitchell
(Labour)
Sheena Wardhaugh
(SNP)
Anne Maggs
(SNP)
Christopher Thompson
(Labour)
2012
2017 Joe Fagan
(Labour)
Hugh MacDonald
(SNP)
2019 by-election Grant Ferguson
(SNP)
2022

Election results

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2022 election

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East Kilbride Central North - 3 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
SNP Grant Ferguson (incumbent) 33.1 1,889            
Labour Joe Fagan (incumbent) 30.0 1,709            
Conservative Alex Brown 12.2 694 695 711 746 769 914  
SNP Hugh MacDonald (incumbent) 10.7 612 1,027 1,044 1,068 1,140 1,254 1,386
Labour Tam Mitchell 7.4 420 427 632 692 749    
Independent Kristofer Keane 3.4 194 202 210 249      
Liberal Democrats Tom Bryson 3.3 187 196 209        
Electorate: 12,861   Valid: 5,705   Spoilt: 154   Quota: 1,427   Turnout: 45.6%  

Source:[5][6]

2019 by-election

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East Kilbride Central North by-election (29 August 2019) - 1 seat
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5
SNP Grant Ferguson 46.5 1,582 1,582 1,588 1,650 1,743
Labour Kirsty Williams 20.3 690 692 695 715 837
Conservative Graham Fisher 14.6 498 499 513 519 606
Liberal Democrats Paul McGarry 12.4 422 424 428 456  
Scottish Green Antony Lee 4.5 153 154 159    
UKIP David MacKay 1.4 48 50      
Scottish Libertarian Stephen McNamara 0.4 12        
Electorate: 12,960   Valid: 3,405   Spoilt: 51   Quota: 1,703   Turnout: 26.7%  

Source:[7][8]

2017 election

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East Kilbride Central North - 3 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
SNP Hugh MacDonald 22.2 1,374 1,389 1,398 1,452 1,488 1,519 1,618
SNP Sheena Wardhaugh (incumbent)[note 1] 20.1 1,243 1,249 1,261 1,351 1,390 1,420 1,482
Labour Joe Fagan 18.8 1,163 1,173 1,198 1,229 1,873    
Conservative Darren Clyde 18.8 1,163 1,165 1,188 1,209 1,258 1,319  
Labour Alice Marie Mitchell (incumbent) 12.8 795 799 827 854      
Scottish Green James Thornbury 3.9 239 254 294        
Liberal Democrats John Rintoul 2.5 153 157          
Solidarity Stuart McLean 1.1 69            
Electorate: 13,113   Valid: 6,199   Spoilt: 174   Quota: 1,550   Turnout: 48.6%  

Source:[11][12]

2012 election

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East Kilbride Central North - 4 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
SNP Anne Maggs (incumbent) 29.3 1,733              
Labour Alice Marie Mitchell (incumbent) 22.8 1,348              
Labour Christopher Thompson (incumbent) 18.0 1,065 1,101 1,231          
SNP Sheena Wardhaugh (incumbent) 9.3 549 973 978 984 994 1,065 1,115 1,374
Scottish Green Kirsten Robb 8.7 516 561 571 580 599 715 820  
Conservative William Chalmers 6.3 374 378 381 383 386 412    
East Kilbride Alliance Clare Keane 4.7 277 287 291 293 303      
Solidarity Richard Foster 0.9 51 53 54 55        
Electorate: 14,005   Valid: 5,913   Spoilt: 104   Quota: 1,183   Turnout: 42.2%  

Source:[13]

2007 election

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East Kilbride Central North - 4 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SNP Anne Maggs[note 2] 28.3 2,248                  
Labour Alice Mitchell[note 3] 23.9 1,899                  
Labour Christopher Thompson[note 4] 15.5 1,229 1,269 1,456 1,477 1,482 1,513 1,617      
Conservative Isobel Perratt 6.9 545 563 571 575 584 618 679 681    
SNP Sheena Wardhaugh 6.8 538 927 937 969 982 1,059 1,149 1,154 1,264 ???
Scottish Green Raymond Burke 6.3 500 542 555 594 610 690 817 821 963  
Liberal Democrats Gordon Smith 5.6 446 480 499 520 524 570        
East Kilbride Alliance Clare Keane 2.9 227 242 250 259 383          
East Kilbride Alliance Tim Gingell 2.1 169 179 183 185            
Scottish Socialist Catherine Pedersen 1.6 130 149 154              
Electorate: 14,310   Valid: 7,931   Quota: 1,587   Turnout: 57.0%  

Source:[14][15]

Notes

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  1. ^ East Kilbride Central North SNP councillor Sheena Wardhaugh resigned from the party and became an independent on 25 May 2017.[9] On 2 June 2019, Sheena Wardhaugh died and a by-election was held on 29 August.[10]
  2. ^ Returning councillor for Blacklaw single-member ward.
  3. ^ Returning councillor for East Mains single-member ward.
  4. ^ Returning councillor for Maxwellton single-member ward.

References

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  1. ^ "East Kilbride Central North". Scottish Government. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Labour-led administration takes over South Lanarkshire Council". BBC. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; South Lanarkshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2006. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  4. ^ "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; South Lanarkshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  5. ^ "Ward 8 East Kilbride Central North Declaration of Results Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  6. ^ "Ward 8 East Kilbride Central North Candidate Votes Per Stage Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  7. ^ "East Kilbride Central North By-election Declaration of Results". South Lanarkshire Council. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  8. ^ "East Kilbride Central North By-election Candidate Votes Per Stage". South Lanarkshire Council. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  9. ^ Findlay, Nicola (25 May 2017). "Long-standing councillors quit SNP ahead of first meeting of new council". Daily Record.
  10. ^ "Obituary: Sheena Wardhaugh, teacher and prominent figure in the SNP". Herald Scotland.
  11. ^ "Ward 8 East Kilbride Central North Declaration of Results Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Ward 8 East Kilbride Central North Candidate Votes Per Stage Elections". South Lanarkshire Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Local Government election results 2012". South Lanarkshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  14. ^ Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Archive Project - 2007 - South Lanarkshire". Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  15. ^ 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.