Due to its physical isolation from the main built-up areas of Cambuslang, Westburn has something of a rural village character as opposed to a neighbourhood in a medium-sized town.

[9] The Westburn name has appeared on local maps for centuries, but initially this was a country house and a nearby farm closer to Cambuslang Main Street than the current village.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the area where modern Westburn is now situated was merely open ground with a small road running down towards Newton House on the other side of the burn.

The Redpath Brown & Co firm was established in 1802 in Edinburgh[18] and had premises in Glasgow by 1905 but needed a bigger site and identified Westburn, on the road to Newton House as the location for their new works.

[19] A group of uncommon black 'Swedish timber' houses (64 dwellings) was also constructed on the south side of Westburn Road up to the railway lines in the late 1930s;[20][21] the same style can be seen in pockets of similar numbers within Lanarkshire including at High Blantyre, Larkhall, Allanton, Moodiesburn and Birkenshaw,[22] while other less distinctive examples using the materials are found in many parts of Scotland.

The old colliery was also converted to modern housing (Overton Grange, around 230 dwellings with its streets named after local metalworking firms including Redpath, Arrol, Colville and Dalzell).

[29][30] Westburn has some recreational provision; there is a children's play area in the east of the village (on the site of the old row cottages),[31] and this is also the location of the community centre where birthday parties, dance classes etc.

[32] There are other small play areas in the new housing estates, and a full-size grass football field at Peter Brownlee Park which is well used by children's teams (an adjacent red blaes pitch is not in use although it has floodlights and some perimeter fencing).

The Scotkart facility is also an option, albeit this is an expensive hobby – a popular informal alternative in the area is the riding of quad and motocross bikes through the nearby fields.

It is home to the Scottish headquarters of Greggs bakers[41] who moved there from Shawfield, Rutherglen in 2007;[42][43] the national training centre for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service alongside a new community fire station;[44] chemical distributors Brenntag; plant hire firm AB2000;[45] Mitchell Engineering which is one of Cambuslang's oldest surviving businesses (established 1891);[15] and poultry processing company 2 Sisters Food Group[46] which ceased operations at Westburn in 2018 with the loss of 450 jobs.