1979 Lancaster City Council election

1979 Lancaster City Council election

← 1976 3 May 1979 (1979-05-03) 1983 →
All 60 seats to Lancaster City Council 30 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Conservative Labour Independent Last election 43 seats 11 seats 5 seats Seats won 36 14 6 Seat change 3 1 Popular vote 38,635 17,533   Fourth party   Party Liberal Last election 1 seat Seats won 3 Seat change 2 Popular vote 6,195
Leader before election Conservative Leader after election Conservative

The 1979 Lancaster City Council election took place on 10 May 1979. This was on the same day as other local elections in England. New ward boundaries took affect for this election, increasing the number of seats from 59 to 60.

Summary

The election resulted in a Conservative majority hold.

Election result

1979 Lancaster City Council
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	56	36	8	6	2
	Labour	34	14	5	1	4
	Independent	16	7	3	2	1
	Liberal	5	3	2	0	2

Ward Results

^[1]

Alexandra

Alexandra (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	E. Garbutt	1,458	50.4
	Conservative	D. Kershaw	1,437	49.6
	Conservative	T. Reaney	1,370
	Conservative	K. Warren	1,300
Turnout			5,565	72.2
	Labour gain from Conservative
	Conservative hold
	Conservative win (new seat)

Arkholme

Arkholme (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	A. Jones	Unopposed
Turnout			0	0.0
	Conservative hold

Bolton-Le-Sands

Bolton-Le-Sands (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. Rigg	Unopposed
	Conservative	A. Briggs	Unopposed
Turnout			0	0.0
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Bulk

Bulk (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Bryning	2,221	65.9
	Labour	R. Clark	2,052
	Labour	J. Yates Ms.	1,939
	Conservative	J. Rowley	1,148	34.1
	Conservative	R. Coletta	971
	Conservative	D. Redmayne	955
Turnout			9,286	73.2
	Labour hold
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Carnforth

Carnforth (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Clarke	1,268	46.4
	Labour	E. Jones Ms.	1,188
	Conservative	J. McKelvie	761	27.9
	Conservative	C. Benson	705
	Independent	K. Townsend	702	25.7
	Independent	C. Davies	672
Turnout			5,296	78.8
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Castle

Castle (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. Sweeney Ms.	1,493	37.7
	Labour	L. Shaw	1,309	33.0
	Labour	M. Clappen Ms.	1,294
	Labour	F. Roberts	1,287
	Independent	D. Brewer	1,163	29.3
	Conservative	R. Varey	1,065
	Independent	G. Woodhead	1,007
	Conservative	J. Cowbourne	859
Turnout			9,477	75.4
	Conservative hold
	Labour hold
	Labour win (new seat)

Caton

Caton (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	S. Mews	1,732	68.6
	Liberal	M. Rushton Ms.	1,260
	Conservative	M. Potts Ms.	791	31.4
	Conservative	M. Williams Ms.	746
Turnout			5,529	81.1
	Liberal gain from Conservative
	Liberal gain from Conservative

Ellel

Ellel (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	R. Carr	1,453	49.0
	Conservative	J. Lowthion	1,099
	Independent	R. Bibby	808	27.3
	Labour	W. Stafford	703	23.7
Turnout			4,063	78.6
	Conservative gain from Independent
	Conservative hold

Halton-With-Aughton

Halton-With-Aughton (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	H. Towers	Unopposed
Turnout			0	0.0
	Conservative hold

Harbour

Harbour (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	D. Jackson	1,038	38.9
	Conservative	K. Brook	952	35.7
	Conservative	D. Sykes	764
	Labour	A. Leach	680	25.5
	Independent	D. Kennedy	541
	Labour	H. Rushton	524
Turnout			4,499	78.8
	Independent hold
	Conservative hold

Heysham Central

Heysham Central (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	J. Taylor Ms.	1,587	60.3
	Conservative	T. Higginson	1,044	39.7
	Conservative	K. Wilson	1,014
Turnout			3,645	77.7
	Independent hold
	Conservative hold

Heysham North

Heysham North (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	M. Kennan	1,271	56.1
	Conservative	G. Bryan	1,268
	Liberal	M. Brown	996	43.9
Turnout			3,535	73.9
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Heysham South

Heysham South (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Taylor	0	0.0
	Conservative	J. Downey	0	0.0
	Independent	N. Bolton Ms.	0	0.0
Turnout			0	0.0
	Labour hold
	Conservative hold
	Independent hold

Hornby

Hornby (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Battersby	859	79.2
	Labour	J. Hayhurst	225	20.8
Turnout			1,084	80.8
	Conservative hold

John O'Gaunt

John O'Gaunt (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	D. Leswer	2,491	56.5
	Independent	L. Jackson Ms.	1,915
	Independent	B. Freeman	1,783
	Conservative	T. Hayton	1,014	23.0
	Conservative	M. Lovett-Horn Ms.	977
	Labour	R. Allen	902	20.5
	Labour	L. Yates Ms.	863
	Labour	P. Kavanagh	848
	Conservative	H. Osliffe	840
Turnout			10,633	77.9
	Independent gain from Conservative
	Independent gain from Conservative
	Independent gain from Conservative

Kellet

Kellet (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. Goodfellow	Unopposed
Turnout			0	0.0
	Conservative hold

Overton

Overton (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. Mashiter	Unopposed
Turnout			0	0.0
	Conservative hold

Parks

Parks (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	I. Welldrake Ms.	1,473	55.2
	Conservative	J. Dawson	1,295
	Liberal	A. Orlowski Ms.	1,197	44.8
Turnout			3,965	79.7
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Poulton

Poulton (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	S. Burns Ms.	1,562	49.3
	Conservative	M. Bicker	1,321
	Conservative	W. Thornton	1,296
	Labour	M. Harper	856	27.0
	Labour	B. Ogston	839
	Independent	W. Tempest	751	23.7
	Independent	A. Smith	530
Turnout			7,155	69.7
	Conservative hold
	Conservative gain from Independent
	Conservative win (new seat)

Scotforth East

Scotforth East (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Bicker	1,853	52.8
	Labour	E. Jones	1,789
	Labour	J. Lodge	1,709
	Conservative	R. Bushby	1,655	47.2
	Conservative	G. Swindlehurst	1,654
	Conservative	E. Stephens	1,340
Turnout			10,000	70.8
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Scotforth West

Scotforth West (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Ball	1,692	58.7
	Conservative	E. Simpson	1,672
	Conservative	J. Outram	1,385
	Labour	I. Brown Ms.	1,191	41.3
	Labour	J. Harkins	1,184
	Labour	S. Randall Ms.	967
Turnout			8,091	77.0
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Silverdale

Silverdale (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	A. Whitaker	Unopposed
Turnout			0	0.0
	Conservative hold

Skerton Central

Skerton Central (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	D. Henderson Ms.	1,729	64.8
	Labour	J. Horner Ms.	1,408
	Conservative	J. Knott Ms.	939	35.2
Turnout			4,076	76.8
	Labour hold
	Labour hold

Skerton East

Skerton East (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Richardson	1,033	52.0
	Conservative	H. Hind	1,017
	Labour	J. McCready	952	48.0
	Labour	J. O'Donnell	829
Turnout			3,831	74.4
	Conservative hold
	Conservative gain from Labour

Skerton West

Skerton West (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Taylor Ms.	1,245	46.5
	Conservative	S. Smith	1,213
	Labour	L. Bagot	738	27.6
	Independent	M. Varey	695	26.0
	Labour	H. Walker	693
Turnout			4,584	78.2
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Slyne-With-Hest

Slyne-With-Hest (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	R. Schofield	Unopposed
	Conservative	F. Wilcox	Unopposed
Turnout			0	0.0
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Torrisholme

Torrisholme (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	P. Sumner	2,065	72.0
	Conservative	P. Whitworth	1,856
	Labour	D. Beesley	804	28.0
Turnout			4,725	79.2
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Victoria

Victoria (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	T. Langridge	1,850	41.0
	Conservative	T. Shingler	1,493	33.1
	Conservative	S. King Ms.	1,479
	Labour	C. Aimson	1,166	25.9
	Labour	P. Hooper	1,166
Turnout			7,154	71.9
	Independent hold
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Warton

Warton (1 seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	C. Peacock	1,010	70.7
	Conservative	A. Clarke	418	29.3
Turnout			1,428	78.4
	Liberal hold

References

1. "Lancaster Council Election Results 1973-2011" (PDF). Election Centre. Retrieved 26 June 2026.