1979 Alnwick District Council election

1979 Alnwick District Council election

←  1976 3 May 1979 (1979-05-03) 1983 →
All 29 seats to Alnwick District Council 15 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Party Liberal Independent Last election 1 22 Seats won 9 8   Third party Fourth party   Party Conservative Labour Last election 2 3 Seats won 7 5
Control of Council before election Independent Control of Council after election no overall control

Elections to Alnwick District Council were held on 3 May 1979 alongside other local elections for Non-metropolitan district councils across England. The previous two elections resulted in Independent politicians having a vast majority of seats but in this election the main UK parties won a substantial number of seats for the first time in the Alnwick District Council. Part of this move towards the main UK parties was councillors who were previously Independent joining parties.

Election result

Alnwick Local Election Result 1973

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Liberal	9	1	0	8	31.0	33.7	9,993
	Independent	8	0	5	14	27.6	17.2	5,082
	Conservative	7	4	0	5	24.1	27.3	8,098
	Labour	5	0	0	2	17.2	17.2	5,082

Ward results

The result for each ward was as follows: ^[1]

Alnmouth & Lesbury (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	H Philipson *	738	74.6	−4.2
	Conservative	J Baxter *	684	69.2	+4.6
	Liberal	W Robertson	555	56.1	+24.4
Majority			54	5.5
Turnout			989	66.4
Registered electors			1,489
	Independent win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Alnwick Castle (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	A Davidson	957	65.0
	Liberal	J Wilson	862	58.5
	Conservative	M Brown	796	54.0
	Conservative	H Reavell *	670	45.5
	Liberal	K Gray	627	42.6
	Conservative	G Pope *	506	34.4
Majority			95	6.5
Turnout			1,473	68.8
Registered electors			2,142
	Liberal win (new seat)
	Liberal win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Alnwick Clayport (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	R Simpson *	712	58.5
	Liberal	E Stanton	431	35.4
	Conservative	T Carney	411	33.8
	Labour	T Bell	317	26.0
	Independent	E Davidson	308	25.3
	Labour	D Douglas	254	20.9
Majority			281	23.1
Turnout			1,217	70.2
Registered electors			1,734
	Liberal win (new seat)
	Liberal win (new seat)

Alnwick Hotspur (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	I Robertson *	949	86.9
	Liberal	B Burdis	936	85.7
	Conservative	P Russell	299	27.4
Majority			13	1.2
Turnout			1,092	66.0
Registered electors			1,655
	Independent win (new seat)
	Liberal win (new seat)

Amble East (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	W Mitchell	1,110	71.6	+14.9
	Labour	R Brown	925	59.7
	Labour	P Partington	888	57.3
	Liberal	J Geggie	640	41.3
	Conservative	D Elson	598	38.6
	Conservative	D Chapman	489	31.5
Majority			185	11.9
Turnout			1,550	69.5
Registered electors			2,231
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Amble West (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	I Hinson	604	43.2
	Conservative	A McDonnell	487	34.9
	Independent	C Turnbull	451	32.3	−31.4
	Labour	J Gilgannon	397	28.4	−21.6
	Conservative	P Holt	327	23.4
	Independent	J Johnstone	312	22.3	−36.8
	Labour	J Partington	215	15.4
Majority			117	8.4
Turnout			1,397	79.1
Registered electors			1,767
	Liberal win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Craster & Rennington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	C Grey	309	61.4
	Conservative	A Newbiggin	194	38.6
Majority			115	22.9
Turnout			503	86.1
Registered electors			584
	Liberal win (new seat)

Elsdon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	R Elliott *	unopposed
	Independent hold

Embleton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	P Bridgeman *	344	62.3
	Liberal	L Cairns	208	37.7
Majority			136	24.6
Turnout			552	80.6
Registered electors			685
	Conservative gain from Independent

Harbottle

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	J Coatsworth *	unopposed
	Independent hold

Hedgeley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	M Hill *	unopposed
	Independent win (new seat)

Longframlington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	M Keen *	258	48.0
	Independent	J Browell	180	33.5
	Independent	W Reed	100	18.6
Majority			78	14.5
Turnout			538	82.5
Registered electors			652
	Independent hold

Longhoughton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	S Alexander *	367	52.1	−2.9
	Liberal	R Huggins	338	47.9	+2.9
Majority			29	4.1
Turnout			705	69.0
Registered electors			1,021
	Conservative gain from Independent

Rothbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	S Bolam	1,219	96.7	+38.0
	Conservative	R Mackie	714	56.6	+10.1
	Labour	M Stowe	589	46.7
Majority			505	40.0
Turnout			1,261	71.7
Registered electors			1,759
	Independent hold
	Conservative gain from Independent

Shilbottle (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	E Tully *	913	69.3	−17.3
	Labour	W Dobbie *	849	64.5	+1.3
	Liberal	K Ainsley	676	51.3
	Independent	G McLanachan	567	43.1
	Liberal	M Gleghorn	480	36.4
	Liberal	E Mills	465	35.3
Majority			64	4.9
Turnout			1,317	61.4
Registered electors			2,144
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Liberal win (new seat)

Warkworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	L McArthur	727	60.4
	Conservative	A Curry *	654	54.4
	Conservative	A Hands	558	46.4
	Liberal	G Scott	466	38.7
Majority			73	6.1
Turnout			1,203	76.1
Registered electors			1,581
	Liberal gain from Independent
	Conservative gain from Independent

Whittingham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	R Smith *	unopposed
	Independent hold

References

1. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. "Alnwick District Council Election Results 1973-2003" (PDF). The Elections Centre. Retrieved 5 May 2025.