Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1973

The first elections to the Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council were held on 10 May 1973.

Background

The metropolitan district was one of the new authorities created by the Local Government Act 1972, which completely reorganised local administration in England and Wales. The new district, one of seven in the West Midlands, had an identical area to the existing County Borough of Wolverhampton. The first council was elected as a "shadow authority", with the reorganisation coming into effect in the following year on 1 April 1974. Subsequent to the election the shadow council successfully petitioned for a royal charter granting borough status, becoming Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council.^[1]

Elections

At this first election all 60 councillors were elected, there being three councillors in each of the 20 wards. In an anomaly of the usual procedure for local elections, the candidate in first place was elected for 5 years, the candidate in second place for 3 years and the candidate in third place for 2 years. This was to allow for the "shadow" year of 1974 when the Metropolitan Borough Council was operating in shadow of the County Borough. From 1975 elections were by thirds with one councillor retiring in each ward.

Following the election the Labour Party had overall control of the council with 40 councillors to the Conservatives 20. Following the final county borough election held in 1972 the two parties had held 40 seats each on the 80 member council.^[2]

Election results

The following councillors were returned in their corresponding wards:

Bilston East
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	D Turner (1st)	1891
Labour	T H Larkin (2nd)	1786
Labour	Mrs H Brown (3rd)	1603
Conservative	A G Cooper	278

Bilston North
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	P R Richards (1st)	1281
Labour	R Reynolds (2nd)	1137
Labour	R Davies (3rd)	1125
Conservative	W L Hughes	994
Conservative	R A M Marshall	932
Conservative	L S Draisey	900

Blakenhall
	Candidate	Votes
Conservative	J Carpenter (1st)	2070
Conservative	Mrs J E Shore (2nd)	1996
Conservative	Mrs J L Shaw (3rd)	1992
Labour	J Hackwood	1389
Labour	G R Johnson	1335
Labour	Bishan Dass	1238

Bushbury
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	Mrs J Beddoes (1st)	1069
Labour	J A W Bird (2nd)	1055
Labour	E Mitchell (3rd)	998
Conservative	W Hillier	361
National Front	W A Murfin	160

Eastfield
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	Ken Purchase (1st)	1452
Labour	P Ray (2nd)	1260
Labour	Mrs L Richards (3rd)	1235
Conservative	Mrs E H Allen	387
National Front	R Davison	304
Communist	G J Barnsby	144

Ettingshall
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	E W Bold (1st)	1281
Labour	Mrs C Durham (2nd)	1091
Labour	A Storer (3rd)	1021
Conservative	W J Allen	458
Conservative	G D Phillips	455
Communist	F W Reeves	96

Graiseley
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	A G Barratt (1st)	1500
Labour	Mrs V A Fletcher (2nd)	1390
Labour	Mrs N Jones (3rd)	1367
Conservative	W H Etwell	1305
Conservative	R Dorsett	1258
Conservative	R J Thomas	1209

Low Hill
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	D Hickmott (1st)	1026
Labour	Mrs W F K Reynolds (2nd)	1011
Labour	A C Laws (3rd)	966
Conservative	A Dixon	213
Communist	G Dorrance	60

Merry Hill
	Candidate	Votes
Conservative	W CLarke (1st)	2362
Conservative	J G Blackburn (2nd)	2329
Conservative	Robert Hart (3rd)	2119
Labour	Mrs M Everett	858
Labour	G Turner	792

Oxley
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	K Staves (1st)	1229
Labour	R Haynes (2nd)	1121
Labour	N Fryer (3rd)	1071
Conservative	H J Burton	829
Conservative	G Bangham	829
Conservative	P Withers	732
National Front	D E Foster	286

Park
	Candidate	Votes
Conservative	W J Morrison (1st)	1568
Conservative	Mrs M S Machin (2nd)	1563
Conservative	Mrs M W Hodson (3rd)	1529
Labour	Dr P Young	584
Labour	W Bruce	524
Labour	S G Stockley von Statzer	504
Liberal	Mrs W Lundgren	457
Liberal	R Gray	442
Liberal	K R Aithal	379
National Front	D G Gorton	240

Parkfield
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	G Howells (1st)	1298
Labour	H E Lace(2nd)	1287
Labour	A E Steventon (3rd)	1118
Conservative	B C Johnson	397
Conservative	C Lenton	272
Conservative	B Wood	240
Communist	R A Millington	78

Penn
	Candidate	Votes
Conservative	G A Bickley (1st)	2669
Conservative	D J Rutherford (2nd)	2653
Conservative	P Bradley (3rd)	2304
Liberal	J Wernick	1961
Liberal	A Robinson	1642
Liberal	T D Bamford	1522
Labour	Mrs M Garner	285
Labour	D Aulton	277

St Peters
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	I G Claymore (1st)	1866
Labour	Mr J James (2nd)	1533
Labour	S R Sharma (3rd)	1211
TUUF	G S Bains	692
ILP	G Carter	636
Conservative	H Cohen	620
Conservative	E M Gibbs	488
Conservative	B Thomas	432
National Front	P Kane	242
Communist	D Hamilton	106

Spring Vale
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	S Martin (1st)	2188
Labour	N G Davies (2nd)	2040
Labour	A Garner (3rd)	1933
Conservative	Mrs P E Atkinson	413

Tettenhall Regis
	Candidate	Votes
Conservative	S O Morton (1st)	1683
Conservative	Mrs D M Seiboth (2nd)	1666
Conservative	Mrs T M Comport (3rd)	1586
Liberal	Larry Mclean	1213
Liberal	H C Marshall	1027
Liberal	M E Millar	950
Labour	J M Smith	300
Labour	R F Ilsley	285
Labour	B Evans	278

Tettenhall Wightwick
	Candidate	Votes
Conservative	G R Watson (1st)	1897
Conservative	P G Snell (2nd)	1882
Conservative	E G L Pearce (3rd)	1862
Liberal	H Wright	677
Labour	K P Jarrad	525
Labour	W O Reilly	515
Labour	R S Willett	493

Wednesfield Heath
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	H Turner (1st)	1265
Conservative	C T Squire (2nd)	1239
Conservative	A Griffiths (3rd)	1226
Labour	R Garner	1198
Conservative	F J Wadsworth	1176
Labour	G Hicken	1171

Wednesfield North
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	J A Morey (1st)	1649
Labour	L Horton (2nd)	1623
Labour	S H Reynolds (3rd)	1554
Conservative	G H Parker	815
Conservative	W J Curtiss	732
Conservative	Mrs J M Curtiss	725
Communist	A Barr	109

Wednesfield South
	Candidate	Votes
Labour	Mrs C M Nicholls (1st)	1380
Labour	J F Torrington (2nd)	1296
Labour	Mrs E D Jevons (3rd)	1102
Conservative	H L Turner	908
Conservative	Mrs D M Brooks	813
Conservative	C F Brueton	809

References

↑ Local government in England and Wales: A Guide to the New System. London: HMSO. 1974. p. 24. ISBN 0-11-750847-0.
↑ "Widespread Labour gains in borough elections". The Times. 5 May 1972.

Council elections in the West Midlands
Birmingham City Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018
Coventry City Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Wolverhampton City Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
West Midlands County Council	1973 1977 1981 Abolished
Mayor	2017 2020
See also: Wards Boundary changes

(1972 ←) United Kingdom local elections, 1973 (→ 1974)
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