1979 Fenland District Council election

1979 Fenland District Council election^[1]
All 40 seats in the Fenland District Council; 21 seats needed for a majority
Council control before election; Conservative;	Council control after election ; Conservative;

The 1979 Fenland District Council election took place on 3 May 1979 to elect members of Fenland District Council in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. This was on the same day as the 1979 General Election and other local elections however the town and the parish council elections were pushed back to 24 May 1979 and may well have affected both sets of local elections.^[2] Despite a net loss of 3 seats the Conservatives retained overall control of the council. Sitting town mayors and deputy mayors were particularly unsuccessful, in Wisbech Labour mayor Charles Bowden and his conservative deputy Feodor Rikovski failed to win seats and in March Labour mayor Don Dagless lost his seat. The Liberals gained two seats in Wisbech.^[3] 1983 Fenland District Council election is next election.

1979 Fenland District Council elections

1979 Fenland Local Election Results^[4]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %
Conservative	24	0	3	-3	60
Independent	7	2	0	+2	17.5
Liberal	3	2	0	+2	7.5
Labour	6	0	1	-1	15

^[5]

Ward results

(* denotes sitting councillor)

Benwick and Doddington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Richard Dunham*	747	66
	Independent	Heinz Miller	384	34
Majority
Turnout				85.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Chatteris East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Noel Carney	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Chatteris North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rita Goodge*	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Chatteris South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Brinton	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Chatteris West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Albert German*	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elm (2 seats)
	Candidate	Votes
Conservative	Mac Cotterell	unopposed
Independent	Arthur Ingle*	unopposed
Conservative hold		Swing
Independent hold		Swing

Leverington (2 seats)
	Candidate	Votes
Conservative	Robert Wallace*	unopposed
Independent	Ronald Dixon	unopposed
Conservative hold		Swing
Independent hold		Swing

Manea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Acton	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

March East (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Fred Clark*	1,733	39.7
	Conservative	George Brewin	1,438	32.9
	Labour	Don Cherry*	1,351
	Labour	Wilfred Fordham	992
	Conservative	Andrew Woollard	911
	Liberal	John Longley	775	17.8
	Independent	Bruce Pearce	420	9.6
Turnout				81.8
Registered electors
	Labour hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

March North (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Peter Jackman	1,570	35.2
	Conservative	Geoff Taylor	1,451	32.5
	Labour	George Campbell*	1,445	32.4
	Labour	Don Dagless*	1,405
	Labour	Paddy Overland	762
Turnout
Registered electors
	Independent hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

March West (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Freddie Grounds*	1,330	40.7
	Conservative	Doreen Fleming*	1,324
	Conservative	Peter Skoulding*	1,178
	Liberal	Barry Fox	1,028	31.5
	Labour	Ann Clark	908	27.8
	Labour	Alan Guy	709
Turnout
Registered electors
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Newton and Tydd St Giles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Palmer*	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Outwell and Upwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Bloom	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Peter Barnes*	1,348	49.9
	Liberal	Ellis Plumb*	954	35.3
	Independent	Neil Payne	783
	Conservative	Clifford Edwards	397	14.7
Turnout
Registered electors			2,569
	Independent hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Whittlesey Bassenhally
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Shelton*	797	64.6
	Independent	George Scott	436	35.4
Turnout				77.1
Majority
	Conservative hold		Swing

Whittlesey East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Ursula Cuffe	677	69
	Labour	Gordon Owen	303	31
Majority			374
Turnout			980	75.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Whittlesey Kingsmoor
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Albert Hannington*	536	55.1
	Conservative	Donald Roberts	437	44.9
Majority
Turnout				73.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Wimblington and Stonea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Dorothy Camp	583	68.1
	Labour	Geoffrey Lambert	273	31.9
Majority
Turnout				83.5
	Independent hold		Swing

Wisbech East (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Bob Lake*	1,074	55.7
	Conservative	Leslie Slaymaker*	1,043
	Labour	Marian Usher	853	44.3
Turnout
Registered electors
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Whittlesey Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Hinton*	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Whittlesey South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Whitwell*	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Whittlesey West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harold Lilley*	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wisbech North (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Harry Potter*	1,168	41.9
	Labour	Ken Williams*	959
	Liberal	Kathleen Brennan	899	32.3
	Liberal	Bernard Martin	889
	Conservative	Feodor Rikovsky	720	25.8
	Labour	Alec Worlding	701
Turnout
Registered electors
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

Wisbech North East (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Beryl Petts*	774	41.1
	Conservative	Michael Osborn*	749
	Liberal	Gary Morgen	614	32.6
	Labour	Charles Bowden	494	26.2
	Labour	Ron Harris	389
Turnout
Registered electors
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wisbech South West (3 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	June Bond*	1,931	57.0
	Liberal	Michael Sharp	1,459	43.0
	Conservative	Leslie Rands*	1,280
	Conservative	Tom Piggott*	1,238
Turnout
Registered electors
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

^[6]

References

^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1979. Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK: The Elections Centre. p. 13.
^ "Hansard". www.parliament.gov.uk. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
^ "Fenland District Council elections". Fenland Advertiser. 9 May 1979. p. 5.
^ Local elections in Britain: a statistical digest, edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher. 1993
^ "The Results". Fenland Advertiser. 9 May 1979. p. 5.
^ "Misery for Mayors". Fenland Advertiser. 9 May 1979. p. 5.

[handbook-1] Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1979. Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK: The Elections Centre. p. 13.

[2] "Hansard". www.parliament.gov.uk. Retrieved 13 May 2021.

[3] "Fenland District Council elections". Fenland Advertiser. 9 May 1979. p. 5.

[rallings-4] Local elections in Britain: a statistical digest, edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher. 1993

[5] "The Results". Fenland Advertiser. 9 May 1979. p. 5.

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

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