Thorniewood is one of the twenty-one wards used to elect members of the North Lanarkshire Council.^[2] It elects three councillors and covers the Viewpark, Tannochside and Birkenshaw areas. Its south-west boundary is the M74 motorway bordering the Bothwell and Uddingston ward of South Lanarkshire (the localities of Thorniewood were often historically considered parts of Uddingston, particularly before the two parts were divided between the districts of Hamilton and Motherwell in 1975).

A 2017 national review caused the territory to be reduced, the east boundary moving westwards from the A725 bypass resulting in the loss of the Fallside neighbourhood and the unpopulated Righead Industrial Estate; however, housebuilding elsewhere meant the decrease in the electorate was minimal. The ward had a population of 13,950 in 2019.^[3]