1973 Guildford Borough Council election

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The first ever Guildford Borough Council full-council elections were held on 7 June 1973. The Conservatives won control of the council with a majority of 16, winning 29 of the 42 seats.


The Local Government Act 1972 decreed that a new Guildford Borough Council was to replace the previous two councils for the area, namely the town council, Guildford Municipal Borough Council, and the council for the rural area surrounding Guildford, Guildford Rural District Council. The wards used for this election were largely based on the previously wards used by Guildford Municipal Borough Council and the parish boundaries of Guildford Rural District Council.

There was some alteration to the wards in the run up to the election, but full scale rewarding would only be implemented in time for the 1976 council elections. Changes included Friary ward and St Nicolas ward being merged with 3 councillors for the new joint ward; they had previously been separate wards with 3 councillors each on Guildford Municipal Borough Council. Holy Trinity ward and Stoughton ward each saw the number of councillors represent them reduce from 3 to 2. Merrow and Burpham ward, which at this point included much of what was from 1976 onwards to become the Christchurch ward, saw its representation increase from 3 to 5 councillors. [1]


The new council was initially to be elected once every 3 years (this was to change to once every 4 years from 1979 onwards). This replaced the annual elections, where one third of councillors were elected each year, which had previously been used for elections to Guildford Municipal Borough Council.


Going into the election the councillors [2] for the town wards under the old Guildford Municipal Borough Council were as follows - Friary (2 Lib, 1 Lab), St Nicolas (2 Lib, 1 Con), Stoke (3 Lab), Westborough (3 Lab), Holy Trinity (3 Con), Merrow & Burpham (3 Con), Onslow (3 Con), Stoughton (3 Con). Thus Friary & St Nicolas was predominately Liberal, Stoke and Westborough were Labour plus Holy Trinity, Merrow & Burpham, Onslow and Stoughton were Conservative going into the election. With one exception those allegiances were maintained in the 1973 council elections.

The Liberals took all 3 councillors for the new Friary & St Nicolas ward. Labour retained all 6 councillors in its two strongholds Stoke and Westborough. The Conservatives won all the seats in Merrow & Burpham, Onslow and Stoughton wards. However, in Holy Trinity ward a change to previous voting behaviour occurred in that an official Liberal Party candidate [3] took a seat for the first time in Holy Trinity's history; the ward having been created in 1899. This resulted in Holy Trinity ward being split 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal. [4]

All bar 3 of the councillors elected for wards within the area formerly covered by Guildford Rural District Council were Conservatives. The three exceptions were 2 Independents were returned for Albury, Shere & St Martha's, plus one of the three councillors elected for East Clandon, West Clandon, East Horsley & West Horsley was a Liberal, the other two being Conservatives.


Overall the election results were Conservatives 29, Labour 6, Liberals 5, Independents 2.

Results

Albury, Shere & St Martha's (top 2 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Independent Mrs M Elston990
Independent G Witheridge847
Conservative W Whiting805
Conservative Mrs Dent768
Majority42
Turnout
Artington, Compton, Puttenham, Seale and Tongham, Shackleford & Wanborough (top 2 candidate elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative LR Gillingham962
Conservative JP Moore897
Independent Mrs DM Bond560
Independent Miss ND Fox323
Labour Mrs DF Saunders230
Labour K Horne227
Majority337
Turnout
Ash (top 5 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Mrs IF Towler1644
Conservative JG Ades1550
Conservative Mrs RC Hall1550
Conservative SA Lunn1547
Conservative RN Renton1435
Labour Mrs J Curwell883
Labour PA Hawthorne832
Labour GB Smith789
Labour AR Roberts775
Liberal RJ Leigh755
Labour BC Winter717
Independent ConservativePH Cody518
Majority552
Turnout
East Clandon, West Clandon, East Horsley & West Horsley (top 3 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Mrs PM Iliff [5] 1811
Conservative J Skene-Brown1562
Conservative D May1493
Conservative D Blackstone1250
Liberal W Pearson1226
Liberal E Oxford1100
Labour Mrs J Haimes214
Labour Mrs J Henmand151
Majority243
Turnout
Effingham (only 1 candidate elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative BP Tyrwhitt-Drakeunopposed
Friary & St. Nicolas (top 3 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Dr RE Blundell1235
Liberal RG Marks1159
Liberal Mrs M Bateman1107
Conservative G Stuart-Hill721
Conservative BJ Gibbs712
Conservative Mrs FM Puttock705
Labour F Adams369
Labour Mrs CA Rogers294
Labour CP Gale288
Majority386
Turnout
Holy Trinity (top 2 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative CJK Boyce858
Liberal BAH Banks766
Conservative DJA Morgan732
Liberal PJ Stokoe581
Independent Mrs E Nicklin478
Labour BO Lloyd191
Majority26
Turnout
Merrow & Burpham (top 5 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Mrs MM Walls2276
Conservative RH Beatrip1963
Conservative SR Brearley1900
Conservative JP Twining1887
Conservative SN Trusty1800
Liberal Mrs GM Oldfield1173
Liberal Mrs MA Walton1145
Liberal RM Wilson1063
Liberal BRM Avery1062
Liberal AR Dakers1045
Labour P Henderson523
Labour MP Hill490
Labour G Hall470
Labour RSL Rees438
Labour Mrs GCD Lines423
Majority627
Turnout
Normandy (only 1 candidate elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative AA Cook499
Labour PJ Dyson344
Majority155
Turnout
Onslow (top 3 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Mrs PE Harding1118
Conservative RM Hardy1090
Conservative DE Steer963
Liberal R Symes-Schutzmann816
Liberal Mrs B Harris800
Liberal Dr S Harris797
Labour RT Rogers685
Labour BA Naish616
Labour Mrs PM Coyle597
Majority147
Turnout
Pirbright (only 1 candidate elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative D Gibbs310
Independent CJ Hendon258
Majority52
Turnout
Ripley, Wisley & Ockham (only 1 candidate elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative RHA Amisunopposed
Send (top 2 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Mrs MH Sanger793
Conservative SE Roberts721
Liberal Mrs GM Blundell589
Liberal Mrs JM Copeland444
Labour J Cox123
Majority132
Turnout
Shalford (only 1 candidate elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Mrs ECS Stewart603
Independent GA Goulty471
Labour J Fahy201
Majority132
Turnout
Stoke (top 3 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour GR Bellerby [6] 1790
Labour RGK Burgess1521
Labour Mrs E Pullan1397
Conservative AJE Hodges1166
Conservative WR Jordan1146
Conservative FH Nicholson1124
Majority231
Turnout
Stoughton (top 2 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative LJ May1061
Conservative RE Price1003
Labour OJE Sefton554
[7] Mrs LM Harper546
Majority449
Turnout
Westborough (top 3 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Mrs DW Bellerby1434
Labour JRG Dale1296
Labour JB Patrick1159
Liberal KG Briggs868
Liberal PW Tidy803
Liberal PA Toovey771
Conservative DJ Puttock478
Conservative Mrs PC Jenner451
Conservative Mrs BM Woodhatch445
Majority291
Turnout
Worplesdon (top 2 candidates elected)
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Mrs SE Simkins825
Conservative JC Henderson755
Independent H Carter663
Majority92
Turnout

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References

  1. ↑ See "Guildford Borough Council - A Compendium of Municipal Election Results 1835 to 1974" by Roger Ottewill
  2. ↑ Prior to the local government reforms of the early 1970s, councils consisted of 3/4 coucillors who were directly elected by the local populace and 1/4 aldermen who were indirectly elected by their fellow councillors. The reference here refers purely to the directly elected councillors.
  3. ↑ The reference to "official Liberal Party candidate" is to differentiate from candidates who were members of the Liberal Party but had stood as "independents".
  4. ↑ For further information see "Guildford Borough Council - A Compendium of Municipal Election Results 1835 to 1974" by Roger Ottewill.
  5. ↑ Initials from 1976 results as published in Surrey Advertiser.
  6. ↑ GR Bellerby was more commonly known as Bill Bellerby. He appears in every Surrey Advertiser summary of Guildford BC election results from 1973 to 1991 as either B Bellerby or Bill Bellerby. For example both the 1973 and 1976 results list all other candidates in all the wards in Guildford by initials except one who they list as 'Bill Bellerby'. "Guildford Borough Council - A Compendium of Municipal Election results 1835 to 1974" by Roger Ottewill repeated lists his initials as 'GR Bellerby' and that form is used herein.
  7. ↑ The Surrey Advertiser omitted any political description off this candidate from its results published on 8 June 1973
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