Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 14,621 people.

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.

The largest settlements in the ward are Blackwood/Kirkmuirhill and Lesmahagow and it includes the villages of Coalburn, Douglas and Rigside.

[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's boundaries were not changed.