1973 Fenland District Council election

1973 Fenland District Council election^[1]
All 40 seats in the Fenland District Council; 21 seats needed for a majority
Council control before election; N/A;	Council control after election ; NOC;

The 1973 Fenland District Council election took place on 7 June 1973 to elect members for Fenland District Council in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The Conservative Party became the largest bloc on the new council, with half the seats.

1973 Fenland District Council elections

1973 Fenland Local Election Results^[2]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	20	-	-	-	50
Independent	12	-	-	-	30			-
Liberal	0	-	-	0	0	0	0	-
Labour	8	-	-	-	20			-

Summary

At the first meeting of the council, Edward Morris (Independent) was elected chairman.^[3]

Ward results

For 1 April 1974 (first election 7 June 1973) to 6 May 1976:

Benwick and Doddington

Benwick and Doddington
	Candidate	Votes	%
Independent	R Dunham	334	43.3
Labour	H Miller	280	36.3
Conservative	L Richards	158	20.5
Independent win (new seat)

Chatteris

Chatteris (4 seats)
	Candidate	Votes	%
Conservative	R Heading ^[4]	1,308	46.6
Independent	H Oakley	969	32.7
Independent	R Goodger	956
Independent	S Barrett	885
Labour	J Oldfield	613	20.7
Conservative win (new seat)
Independent win (new seat)
Independent win (new seat)
Independent win (new seat)

Elm

Elm (2 seats)
	Candidate	Votes	%
Independent	R Curston	810	81.0
Independent	Arthur Ingle	714
Labour	V Neave	190
Independent win (new seat)
Independent win (new seat)

Leverington

Leverington (2 seats)
	Candidate	Votes	%
Conservative	J Salter	606	69.0
Conservative	R Wallace	532
Labour	J Hawkins	272	31.0
Conservative win (new seat)
Conservative win (new seat)

Manea

Manea
	Candidate	Votes	%
Conservative	D Morris	231	60.9
Independent	S Rutterford	148	39.1
Conservative win (new seat)

March Eastern

March Eastern (5 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Fred Clark	1,975	59.8
	Labour	G Campbell	1,818
	Labour	D Daglesst^[5]	1,743
	Labour	Don Cherry	1,345
	Conservative	V Aveling	1,325	40.2
	Labour	A Fahey	1,268
	Conservative	J Coleman	1,232
Turnout
Registered electors
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

March Western

March Western (4 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	C Spooner	1,445	41.5
	Independent	P Skoulding	1,288
	Conservative	F Grounds MBE ^[6]	1,205	34.6
	Conservative	D Fleming	1,123
	Conservative	G Morton	1,108
	Labour	W Fordham	832	23.9
	Labour	O Driver	809
	Labour	M Boon	723
	Conservative	S Manley	650
	Labour	P Mulgrew	568
Majority
Turnout
Registered electors
	Independent win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Newton and Tydd St Giles

Newton and Tydd St Giles
	Candidate	Votes	%
Independent	A Cater	181	61.4
Independent	T Dykes	114	38.6
Independent win (new seat)

Outwell and Upwell

Outwell and Upwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	D Edgson	unopposed
	Conservative win (new seat)

Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary

Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Peter Barnes	583	47.5
	Independent	N Payne	565
	Conservative	R Aveling	492	40.1
	Conservative	C Edwards	196
	Labour	E Usher	152	12.4
Turnout
Registered electors
	Independent win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)

Whittlesey Ponnders Bridge and Kingsmoor

Whittlesey Ponders Bridge & Kingsmoor (3 seats)
	Candidate	Votes	%
Labour	A Hanington	595	50.0
Conservative	D Hinton	594	50.00
Labour	J Lee	511
Conservative	J French	507
Conservative	A Bates	495
Labour	V Copeman	449
Labour win (new seat)
Conservative win (new seat)
Labour win (new seat)

Whittlesey East Central

Whittlesey East Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	M Dixon-Spain	488	74.4
	Labour	L Wallace	168	25.6
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative win (new seat)

Whittlesey West Central

Whittlesey West Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	H Lilley	363	60.2
	Labour	H Cocksedge	241	39.8
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative win (new seat)

Whittlesey Coates

Whittlesey Coates
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	D Marston	303	78.9
	Labour	A Clarke	81	21.1
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative win (new seat)

Wimblington

Wimblington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	E Morris	388	76.7
	Independent	P Miller	118	23.3
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative win (new seat)

Wisbech East

Wisbech East (4 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	M Osborn	992	61.7
	Conservative	Bob Lake	967
	Conservative	P Green	860
	Conservative	B Petts	846
	Labour	W Pomeroy	617	38.3
	Labour	N Ogden	563
	Labour	L Bowden	541
	Labour	H Clarke	535
Turnout
Registered electors
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Whittlesey Central

Whittlesey Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Richard Hinton	unopposed
	Conservative win (new seat)

Whittlesey South

Whittlesey South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Raymond Whitwell	unopposed
	Conservative win (new seat)

Whittlesey West

Whittlesey West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Harold Lilley	unopposed
	Conservative win (new seat)

Wisbech North

Wisbech North (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	G Gibbs	1,383	54.5
	Labour	D Perry	607	23.9
	Labour	K Williams	567
	Conservative	B Drew	547	21.6
	Labour	K Brennan	434
	Independent	O Alderman	336
Turnout
Registered electors
	Independent win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Wisbech South and West

Wisbech South and West (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	L Rands	757	37.3
	Conservative	H Piggott	695
	Conservative	N Gibson	676
	Labour	Harry Potter	652	32.3
	Independent	T Coleman	611	30.2
	Labour	M Usher	422
Turnout
Registered electors
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

References

^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1973. Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK: The Elections Centre. p. 13.
^ Local elections in Britain: a statistical digest, edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher. 1993
^ "Tories have control". Lynn News and Advertiser. 22 June 1973. p. 2.
^ "Former Fenland chairman". www.wisbechstandard.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
^ "Misery for the Mayors". Fenland Advertiser. 9 May 1979. p. 5.
^ "MBE awarded". www.cambstimes.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2021.

[handbook-1] Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1973. Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK: The Elections Centre. p. 13.

[rallings-2] Local elections in Britain: a statistical digest, edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher. 1993

[3] "Tories have control". Lynn News and Advertiser. 22 June 1973. p. 2.

[4] "Former Fenland chairman". www.wisbechstandard.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2021.

[5] "Misery for the Mayors". Fenland Advertiser. 9 May 1979. p. 5.

[6] "MBE awarded". www.cambstimes.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2021.

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