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 Clydesdale South was formed from an amalgamation of several previous
first-past-the-post wards. It contained the majority of the former
Lesmahagow ward and part of the former
Clyde Valley ward, as well as all the former
Blackwood and
Douglas wards. Unlike the name suggests, Clydesdale South covers a primarily rural area in western
Clydesdale in the southwest of South Lanarkshire next to its boundary with
East Ayrshire. The largest settlements in the ward are
Blackwood/
Kirkmuirhill and
Lesmahagow and it includes the villages of
Coalburn,
Douglas and
Rigside. Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the
2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's boundaries were not changed. ==Councillors==