1970 Sheffield City Council election

1970 Sheffield City Council election

← 1969 8 May 1970 1971 →
28 councillors to Sheffield City Council
First party Second party Third party   Party Labour Conservative Liberal Seats won 21 7 0 Seat change 6 5 1
Majority party before election Labour Party (UK) Majority party after election Labour Party (UK)

The 1970 Sheffield City Council election was held on 8 May 1970 with one third of the council up for election as well as a double vacancy in Mosborough. Since the previous election the Liberals had gained a seat from the Conservatives in a by-election in Heeley. This election seen a consolidation of Labour control, with a further six gains, helped by a more favourable national trend - especially so in the South Yorkshire region. For the first time since the mid-sixties, Labour won the most votes, which a "delighted" Alderman - and head of the Labour grouping - Sir Ron Ironmonger attributed to the youth;

"I said we expected to win four seats, with Gleadless as a possibility, but Heeley was a bonus. The national swing obviously helped, but the really hopeful sign was the greatly increased Labour vote. Our vote was well up in places, and it must be the first time for some years that the Labour vote has been bigger than the Conservatives. I have got to give the credit for this to the youngsters. This is the only new factor, and they are entitled to the credit."

Sir Ron went on to express confidence in both Labour's prospects for the next year's elections, remarking "As things are looking at the moment we could have an absolute landslide next year", and their ability to retain control of the council until the upcoming reorganisation in 1973. The re-elected Labour governance promised its attentions would be focused on two key aspects: the environment, in which a committee - or possibly sub-committee of the already existent Town Planning committee - would address environmental questions, and a deputation on the replacement of St. Catherine's school - an important issue during the campaign - would be organised as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives, who had been hopeful of gaining several seats, seen their targets - Burngreave, Birley and Walkley - swing further away from their grasp. They also resounded to contest the Gleadless victor Colin Radcliffe's narrow win of six votes, headed by the Heeley agent Doreen Smith, claiming that unmarked ballot papers had been counted.^[1]

Sheffield Local Election Result 1970

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	21	6	0	+6	75.0	52.9	72,019	+10.5
	Conservative	7	0	5	-5	25.0	44.3	60,322	-8.5
	Liberal	0	0	1	-1	0.0	2.0	2,743	+0.3
	Communist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.6	837	-1.1
	Conservation	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	118	+0.1

The result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the Council after the elections:

Party		Previous council		New council
		Cllr	Ald	Cllr	Ald
	Labour	39	18	45	18
	Conservatives	42	9	35	9
	Liberals	2	0	1	0
	Communists	0	0	0	0
	Conservation	0	0	0	0
Total		81	27	81	27
		108		108
Working majority		-3	9	9	9
		6		18

Attercliffe^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Robins	2,310	76.7	+5.7
	Conservative	Harold Mellor	701	23.3	−5.7
Majority			1,609	54.4	+11.4
Turnout			3,011
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.7

Beauchief^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frank Adams	5,184	76.6	−5.6
	Labour	Bill Michie	1,580	23.3	+5.6
Majority			3,604	53.3	−11.2
Turnout			6,764
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.6

Birley^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Elsie Richardson	4,178	62.6	+12.8
	Conservative	Andrew Oxley	2,497	37.4	−7.7
Majority			1,681	25.2	+20.5
Turnout			6,675
	Labour hold		Swing	+10.2

Brightside^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Adrian Molloy	2,555	67.8	+12.5
	Conservative	Kathleen Moore	1,124	29.8	−7.2
	Communist	Reg Arundel	91	2.4	+2.4
Majority			1,431	37.9	+19.8
Turnout			3,770
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.8

Broomhill^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Myrtle Jackson	3,206	70.1	−7.2
	Labour	John Baxter	1,364	29.8	+12.9
Majority			1842	40.3	−20.1
Turnout			4,570
	Conservative hold		Swing	-10.0

Burngreave^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Reggie Ellis	2,843	50.7	−5.2
	Liberal	Francis Butler	1,540	27.4	+27.4
	Conservative	Len Scott	1,179	21.0	−19.4
	Communist	Martin Ashworth	46	0.8	−2.8
Majority			1,303	23.2	+7.7
Turnout			5,608
	Labour hold		Swing	-16.3

Castle^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roy Munn	2,549	73.8	+6.3
	Conservative	Kenneth Whitehouse	819	23.7	−1.7
	Communist	Edna Ashworth	84	2.4	−4.5
Majority			1,730	50.1	+8.1
Turnout			3,452
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.0

Darnall^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roy Hattersley	3,486	69.0	+10.0
	Conservative	Roger Outram	1,566	31.0	−10.0
Majority			1,920	38.0	+19.9
Turnout			5,052
	Labour hold		Swing	+10.0

Dore^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Blake	4,849	76.2	−3.5
	Labour	William Kirk	1,516	23.8	+3.5
Majority			3,333	52.4	−7.0
Turnout			6,365
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.5

Ecclesall^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Neill	4,267	79.8	−4.0
	Labour	Marie Rodgers	1,076	20.1	+4.0
Majority			5,343	59.7	−8.0
Turnout			3,191
	Conservative hold		Swing	-4.0

Firth Park^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Valerie Potts	3,696	62.9	+19.2
	Conservative	Jack Kerton	2,080	35.4	−4.1
	Communist	Barry Bracken	99	1.7	−1.5
Majority			1,616	27.5	+23.4
Turnout			5,875
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+11.6

Gleadless^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Colin Radcliffe	3,535	46.2	+11.8
	Conservative	Clifford Godber	3,529	46.1	−10.9
	Liberal	Dennis Boothroyd	583	7.6	−0.9
Majority			6	0.1	−22.6
Turnout			7,647
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+11.4

Hallam^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hazel Black	3,859	73.5	+3.1
	Labour	Charlotte Ellis	1,388	26.4	+8.5
Majority			2,471	47.1	−5.4
Turnout			5,247
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.7

Handsworth^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Len Cope	3,292	64.9	+9.1
	Conservative	William Morris	1,780	35.1	−9.1
Majority			1,512	29.8	+18.2
Turnout			5,072
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.1

Heeley^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bernard Wilkinson	3,204	51.7	+15.0
	Conservative	James Garlick	2,856	46.1	−10.4
	Communist	Ken Turton	138	2.2	−4.6
Majority			348	5.6	−14.2
Turnout			6,198
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+12.7

Hillsborough^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ivor Wakley	3,332	55.7	−8.9
	Labour	Bill Meade	2,644	44.2	+8.9
Majority			688	11.5	−17.8
Turnout			5,976
	Conservative hold		Swing	-8.9

Intake^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arnold Wood	3,934	58.1	+11.0
	Conservative	Dennis Johnson	2,835	41.9	−11.0
Majority			1,099	16.2	+10.5
Turnout			6,769
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+11.0

Manor^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Armitage	2,889	76.9	+17.3
	Conservative	Peter Huddart	792	21.1	−12.9
	Communist	John Hukin	75	2.0	−4.4
Majority			2,097	55.8	+30.2
Turnout			3,756
	Labour hold		Swing	+15.1

Mosborough^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dorothy Walton	2,876	64.7	+1.9
	Labour	Harry Havenhand	2,826
	Conservative	Hugh Rowbotham	1,222	27.5	−9.7
	Conservative	Stanley Titerington	1,101
	Liberal	Colin Wood	344	7.7	+7.7
Majority			1,604	37.2	+11.6
Turnout			4,442
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+5.8

Nether Edge^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Black	3,319	71.9	−8.0
	Labour	Adam Pemberton	1,179	25.5	+5.4
	Conservation	Barry Cummings	118	2.6	+2.6
Majority			2,140	46.4	−13.4
Turnout			4,616
	Conservative hold		Swing	-6.7

Nether Shire^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Simms	2,850	65.6	+13.5
	Conservative	Frank Dunn	1,118	25.7	−15.7
	Liberal	Albert Hattersley	276	6.3	+6.3
	Communist	Ken Hattersley	100	2.3	−4.2
Majority			1,732	39.9	+29.2
Turnout			4,344
	Labour hold		Swing	+14.6

Netherthorpe^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Enid Hattersley	2,576	67.3	+9.7
	Conservative	Tony Hutt	1,251	32.7	−5.1
Majority			1,325	34.6	+14.8
Turnout			3,827
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.4

Owlerton^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roy Thwaites	3,066	67.8	+5.9
	Conservative	Patrick Fenoughty	1,452	32.1	−5.9
Majority			1,614	35.7	+11.8
Turnout			4,518
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.9

Park^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Jones	3,174	77.4	+12.7
	Conservative	David Else	828	20.2	−8.4
	Communist	Cyril Morton	97	2.4	−4.3
Majority			2,346	57.2	+21.1
Turnout			4,099
	Labour hold		Swing	+10.5

Sharrow^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfred Wood	2,833	60.4	+12.5
	Conservative	Colin Barnsley	1,859	39.6	−4.2
Majority			974	20.8	+16.7
Turnout			4,692
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.3

Southey Green^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Blunkett	2,619	79.9	+14.7
	Conservative	Charles Hughes	551	16.8	−10.1
	Communist	Gordon Ashberry	107	3.2	−4.5
Majority			2,068	63.1	+24.9
Turnout			3,277
	Labour hold		Swing	+12.4

Walkley^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Towns	2,807	55.3	+15.4
	Conservative	Stanley Parnell	2,267	44.7	+5.1
Majority			540	10.6	+10.2
Turnout			5,074
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.1