1973 North Hertfordshire District Council election

1973 North Hertfordshire District Council election

7 June 1973 (1973-06-07)
All 48 seats on North Hertfordshire District Council 25 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Con Lab Leader Bob Flatman John Goldsmith Party Conservative Labour Seats after 23 17   Third party Fourth party   Ind RA Party Independent Ratepayers Seats after 7 1
Leader after election Bob Flatman Conservative No overall control

The 1973 North Hertfordshire District Council election was held on 7 June 1973. It was the first election to North Hertfordshire District Council, and was held at the same time as other local elections across England for the new non-metropolitan district councils that were created under the Local Government Act 1972. The elected councillors initially formed a shadow authority to oversee the transition to the new system, operating alongside the five outgoing district councils until 1 April 1974 when the new district formally came into being.

The election saw the Conservatives form the largest party on the council, albeit falling a couple of seats short of having a majority, leaving the council under no overall control. The Conservatives formed a minority administration, with their group leader, Bob Flatman, becoming the first leader of the council.

Overall results

The overall results were as follows:

North Hertfordshire District Council Election, 1973

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	23				47.9	42.7	14,958
	Labour	17				35.4	32.8	11,492
	Independent	7				14.6	19.6	6,862
	Ratepayers	1				2.1	3.1	1,099
	Liberal	0				0.0	1.8	616

Ward results

The new district was divided into 18 numbered wards, electing between one and four councillors each to give a total of 48 councillors:

• Ward 1 was the Baldock Urban District.
• Wards 2–6 were the wards of Hitchin Urban District.
• Wards 7–11 were the wards of Letchworth Urban District.
• Ward 12 was the Royston Urban District.
• Wards 13–18 were all groups of civil parishes from Hitchin Rural District.

The results for each ward were as follows:

Ward 1: Baldock

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Nora M. Burgess	1,212	40.4
	Labour	George A. York	813	27.1
	Conservative	John Barton	769	25.6
	Labour	Stanley Watson	687
	Labour	Roger McFall	639
	Conservative	Richard E. Harrison	605
	Liberal	John C. Whelan	207	6.9
Turnout				62.7
Registered electors			4,785
	Independent win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 2: Hitchin Oughton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Audrey Carss	683	52.8
	Labour	James Reilly (Jim Reilly)	666
	Labour	Charles Rowe (Jim Rowe)	624
	Conservative	John Parfitt	338	26.1
	Independent	Tony Elliott	272	21.0
Turnout				27.1
Registered electors			4,094
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 3: Hitchin Bearton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Ballantyne	949	57.0
	Conservative	Dorothy Jenkinson	917
	Labour	Andrew McQuillan	716	43.0
	Labour	John Seabrook	705
Turnout				46.2
Registered electors			3,682
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 4: Hitchin Priory

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Stanley Flatman (Bob Flatman)	1,013	59.6
	Conservative	Keith Crook	989
	Conservative	Derek Doel	960
	Liberal	Bill Williams	409	24.0
	Labour	Derek Massey	279	16.4
	Labour	Jean Gentle	267
	Labour	Athelstan Herbert	253
Turnout				33.7
Registered electors			4,469
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 5: Hitchin Walsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Goldsmith	880	36.7
	Labour	Peter Clarke	833
	Ratepayers	Ken Logan	769	32.1
	Conservative	David Ingram	750	31.3
	Ratepayers	Ted Morton	720
	Labour	Crystal Toleman	708
Turnout				46.3
Registered electors			4,023
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Ratepayers win (new seat)

Ward 6: Hitchin Highbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Beryl Wearmouth	1,152	53.3
	Conservative	Les Ford	988
	Conservative	Michael Hillman	891
	Independent	Don Bache	748	34.6
	Independent	Ron Hartless	447
	Independent	George Jackson	387
	Labour	Walter Patrick Guymer	261	12.1
	Labour	David Wilson	230
	Labour	Doris Reilly	223
	Independent	Peter Hull	159
Turnout				45.7
Registered electors			4,211
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 7: Letchworth Norton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Miller (Bill Miller)	1,513	62.9
	Labour	Christopher Derek Stockwell (Chris Stockwell)	1,396
	Labour	Gerard Devlin (Gerry Devlin)	1,384
	Labour	Edith Badstevener	1,309
	Conservative	James McGinlay	894	37.1
	Conservative	Brian J. Down	866
Turnout				37.0
Registered electors			6,285
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 8: Letchworth Pixmore

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David A. Griffiths	1,178	75.3
	Labour	Reginald S. Hall (Reg Hall)	1,163
	Labour	Ernest M. Brown (Ernie Brown)	1,149
	Conservative	William Charles Bifield (Charles Bifield)	387	24.7
Turnout				32.9
Registered electors			5,057
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 9: Letchworth Wilbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Gallard	1,144	59.5
	Labour	Mary B. Briercliffe (Mamie Briercliffe)	1,107
	Labour	Ian Mantle	1,102
	Conservative	John Cole	779	40.5
	Conservative	Barry C. Jackson	755
Turnout				47.0
Registered electors			4,243
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 10: Letchworth Westbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Clifford J. Marshall (Cliff Marshall)	832	54.5
	Conservative	John G. McKenna	782
	Labour	Donald Kitchiner (Don Kitchiner)	696	45.5
	Labour	Edna Patricia Watson-Blake (Pat Watson-Blake)	679
Turnout				62.2
Registered electors			2,519
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 11: Letchworth Central and Willian

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Saunders (Bob Saunders)	962	59.9
	Conservative	Margaret Gavin Jones	941
	Independent	Douglas C. Squirrell	417	26.0
	Labour	Florence Wiggs	226	14.1
	Labour	Leslie Pulham (Les Pulham)	165
Turnout				40.7
Registered electors			3,574
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 12: Royston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	George William Stevens	1,559	42.7
	Independent	Patricia Alison Rule	1,544
	Conservative	Francis John Smith (John Smith)	1,336	36.6
	Independent	Philip Leslie Gray	1,298
	Conservative	Christopher McMichael	852
	Labour	Robert Douglas Beckwith	760	20.8
	Labour	Brian William Cavanagh	673
	Labour	Alan Evans	666
	Labour	Anthony Clive Pettit	600
Turnout				58.2
Registered electors			6,279
	Independent win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)

Ward 13: Ashwell, Bygrave, Caldecote, Clothall, Graveley, Hinxworth, Newnham, Radwell and Weston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Eric James Gurney	971	51.5
	Conservative	Robert Peter Evans	649	34.4
	Conservative	Nellie Laura Thompson	642
	Labour	William Watson	266	14.1
	Labour	Willie Page	243
Turnout				67.4
Registered electors			2,800
	Independent win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 14: Barkway, Barley, Kelshall, Nuthampstead, Reed, Rushden, Sandon, Therfield and Wallington

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Esther Mary Brookes	710	55.5
	Conservative	Ian Smith Rose	558
	Independent	John Joseph Crumpholt	414	32.4
	Labour	Pamela Marjorie Toorchen	155	12.1
	Labour	Brian Douglas Miller	118
Turnout				55.5
Registered electors			2,304
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 15: Ippollitts, Kimpton, Langley, Preston, St Paul's Walden and Wymondley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ivan Wren	1,457	77.5
	Conservative	Margaret Jane McMurtrie (Jane McMurtrie)	1,383
	Conservative	John Raffell	1,312
	Labour	David Kendall	422	22.5
	Labour	Christina Evans	405
	Labour	Philip Leslie Dicks	348
Turnout				42.6
Registered electors			4,547
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 16: Codicote

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Denis Winch	614	71.8
	Labour	Anthony Gentle	241	28.2
Turnout				43.2
Registered electors			1,986
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 17: Knebworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gordon Dumelow	659	40.1
	Conservative	Alfred Grosse	555
	Labour	Martin Lisles	355	21.6
	Ratepayers	Dennis Bols	330	20.1
	Independent	Ernest Grosse	298	18.1
Turnout				46.5
Registered electors			2,675
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 18: Hexton, Holwell, Ickleford, King's Walden, Lilley, Offley and Pirton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Ron Lodge	971	37.6
	Labour	Gilbert Kendall	904	35.0
	Independent	David Stedman	894
	Independent	James Holden	847
	Labour	Ronald Hawkes (Ron Hawkes)	770
	Labour	Raymond Cousins (Ray Cousins)	742
	Conservative	Howard Swann	708	27.4
	Conservative	Arthur Baines	679
	Conservative	Ian Little	638
Turnout				52.7
Registered electors			4,736
	Independent win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)

Changes 1973–1976

Ward 7: Letchworth Norton by-election, 25 September 1975

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Kitchiner (Don Kitchiner)
	Conservative	Geoffrey Peter Woods (Geoff Woods)
Turnout				38.4
Majority			35
	Labour hold		Swing	-10

The Letchworth Norton by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour councillor Chris Stockwell on 18 August 1975. The seat was retained for Labour by Don Kitchiner. The precise number of votes cast was not reported, only the majority, turnout and swing.