1973 Guildford Borough Council election

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)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Mrs M Elston 990
Independent G Witheridge 847
Conservative W Whiting 805
Conservative Mrs Dent 768
Majority 42
Turnout
Artington, Compton, Puttenham, Seale and Tongham, Shackleford & Wanborough (top 2 candidate elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative LR Gillingham 962
Conservative JP Moore 897
Independent Mrs DM Bond 560
Independent Miss ND Fox 323
Labour Mrs DF Saunders 230
Labour K Horne 227
Majority 337
Turnout
Ash (top 5 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mrs IF Towler 1644
Conservative JG Ades 1550
Conservative Mrs RC Hall 1550
Conservative SA Lunn 1547
Conservative RN Renton 1435
Labour Mrs J Curwell 883
Labour PA Hawthorne 832
Labour GB Smith 789
Labour AR Roberts 775
Liberal RJ Leigh 755
Labour BC Winter 717
Independent Conservative PH Cody 518
Majority 552
Turnout
East Clandon, West Clandon, East Horsley & West Horsley (top 3 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mrs PM Iliff[5] 1811
Conservative J Skene-Brown 1562
Conservative D May 1493
Conservative D Blackstone 1250
Liberal W Pearson 1226
Liberal E Oxford 1100
Labour Mrs J Haimes 214
Labour Mrs J Henmand 151
Majority 243
Turnout
Effingham (only 1 candidate elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative BP Tyrwhitt-Drake unopposed
Friary & St. Nicolas (top 3 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Dr RE Blundell 1235
Liberal RG Marks 1159
Liberal Mrs M Bateman 1107
Conservative G Stuart-Hill 721
Conservative BJ Gibbs 712
Conservative Mrs FM Puttock 705
Labour F Adams 369
Labour Mrs CA Rogers 294
Labour CP Gale 288
Majority 386
Turnout
Holy Trinity (top 2 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative CJK Boyce 858
Liberal BAH Banks 766
Conservative DJA Morgan 732
Liberal PJ Stokoe 581
Independent Mrs E Nicklin 478
Labour BO Lloyd 191
Majority 26
Turnout
Merrow & Burpham (top 5 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mrs MM Walls 2276
Conservative RH Beatrip 1963
Conservative SR Brearley 1900
Conservative JP Twining 1887
Conservative SN Trusty 1800
Liberal Mrs GM Oldfield 1173
Liberal Mrs MA Walton 1145
Liberal RM Wilson 1063
Liberal BRM Avery 1062
Liberal AR Dakers 1045
Labour P Henderson 523
Labour MP Hill 490
Labour G Hall 470
Labour RSL Rees 438
Labour Mrs GCD Lines 423
Majority 627
Turnout
Normandy (only 1 candidate elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative AA Cook 499
Labour PJ Dyson 344
Majority 155
Turnout
Onslow (top 3 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mrs PE Harding 1118
Conservative RM Hardy 1090
Conservative DE Steer 963
Liberal R Symes-Schutzmann 816
Liberal Mrs B Harris 800
Liberal Dr S Harris 797
Labour RT Rogers 685
Labour BA Naish 616
Labour Mrs PM Coyle 597
Majority 147
Turnout
Pirbright (only 1 candidate elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative D Gibbs 310
Independent CJ Hendon 258
Majority 52
Turnout
Ripley, Wisley & Ockham (only 1 candidate elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative RHA Amis unopposed
Send (top 2 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mrs MH Sanger 793
Conservative SE Roberts 721
Liberal Mrs GM Blundell 589
Liberal Mrs JM Copeland 444
Labour J Cox 123
Majority 132
Turnout
Shalford (only 1 candidate elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mrs ECS Stewart 603
Independent GA Goulty 471
Labour J Fahy 201
Majority 132
Turnout
Stoke (top 3 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour GR Bellerby[6] 1790
Labour RGK Burgess 1521
Labour Mrs E Pullan 1397
Conservative AJE Hodges 1166
Conservative WR Jordan 1146
Conservative FH Nicholson 1124
Majority 231
Turnout
Stoughton (top 2 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative LJ May 1061
Conservative RE Price 1003
Labour OJE Sefton 554
[7] Mrs LM Harper 546
Majority 449
Turnout
Westborough (top 3 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Mrs DW Bellerby 1434
Labour JRG Dale 1296
Labour JB Patrick 1159
Liberal KG Briggs 868
Liberal PW Tidy 803
Liberal PA Toovey 771
Conservative DJ Puttock 478
Conservative Mrs PC Jenner 451
Conservative Mrs BM Woodhatch 445
Majority 291
Turnout
Worplesdon (top 2 candidates elected)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mrs SE Simkins 825
Conservative JC Henderson 755
Independent H Carter 663
Majority 92
Turnout

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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