1978 Sheffield City Council election

Elections to Sheffield City Council were held on 4 May 1978. One third of the council was up for election.

1978 Sheffield City Council election

4 May 1978
31 of 90 seats to Sheffield City Council 46 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Labour Conservative Liberal Seats won 21 8 2 Seat change 3 2 1
Majority party before election Labour Party (UK) Majority party after election Labour Party (UK)

Election result

Sheffield Local Election Result 1978

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	21	0	3	-3	67.7	50.2	75,051	+4.8
	Conservative	8	2	0	+2	25.8	40.9	61,093	+2.3
	Liberal	2	1	0	+1	6.4	8.0	11,960	-2.6
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	709	N/A
	Communist	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	490	-0.1
	British Movement	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	66	New
	Workers Revolutionary	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	32	New

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

Party		Previous council	New council
	Labour	63	60
	Conservatives	22	24
	Liberal	5	6
	Independent	0	0
	Communist	0	0
	British Movement	0	0
	Workers' Revolutionary	0	0
Total		90	90
Working majority		36	30

Ward results

Attercliffe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Firth*	1,402	78.7	+3.1
	Labour	David Brown	1,388
	Conservative	A. Calow	378	21.2	−3.2
	Conservative	Jonathan Freeman	364
Majority			1,010	57.5	+6.3
Turnout			3,532
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.1

Beauchief

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Eric Crewe*	5,297	75.8	+4.3
	Labour	Richard Caborn	1,685	24.1	+4.6
Majority			3,612	51.7	−0.1
Turnout			6,982
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.1

Birley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John G Marshall*	3,218	61.2	+6.3
	Conservative	B. Lomas	2,035	38.7	+3.4
Majority			1,183	22.5	+2.9
Turnout			5,253
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.4

Brightside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Michie*	2,673	69.1	+8.5
	Conservative	M. McGrath	1,193	30.8	+3.1
Majority			1,193	38.3	+5.4
Turnout			3,874
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.7

Broomhill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graham Cheetham*	3,217	59.1	−9.5
	Labour	J. Bride	1,550	28.5	−2.8
	Liberal	Martin Hayes-Allen	672	12.3	+12.3
Majority			1,667	30.6	−6.7
Turnout			5,439
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.3

Burngreave

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Francis Butler*	3,133	63.7	+10.2
	Labour	Helen Jackson	1,435	29.2	−8.1
	Conservative	Emma Sizer	310	6.3	−1.4
	Communist	Alvin Jenkinson	38	0.8	−0.5
Majority			1,698	34.5	+18.3
Turnout			4,916
	Liberal hold		Swing	+9.1

Castle

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Skinner	2,416	77.7	+13.6
	Conservative	I. Saunders	646	20.8	+2.2
	Communist	Violet Gill	47	1.5	−0.8
Majority			1,770	56.9	+11.4
Turnout			3,109
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.7

Chapel Green

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Geoffrey Griffiths	3,938	58.3	−4.9
	Labour	Tom Steel*	2,115	31.3	+7.1
	Conservative	E. King	696	10.3	−2.3
Majority			1,823	27.0	−12.0
Turnout			6,749
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	-6.0

Darnall

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Prince*	2,300	59.5	+4.5
	Labour	Reg Munn**	2,230
	Conservative	Sid Cordle	1,272	33.1	−3.9
	Conservative	Maisie Hyatt	1,247
	Liberal	David Johnson	296	7.4	−0.6
	Liberal	Dennis Boothroyd	265
Majority			1,028	26.4	+8.4
Turnout			7,610
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.2

Reg Munn was a sitting councillor for Castle ward

Dore

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jack Thompson*	4,749	73.2	+2.6
	Labour	Tom Woodhead**	1,733	26.7	+7.9
Majority			3,016	46.5	−5.3
Turnout			6,482
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.6

Tom Woodhead was a sitting councillor for Intake.

Ecclesall

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Pinder*	4,041	68.6	+4.7
	Labour	Joan Brown	1,099	18.6	+4.4
	Liberal	P. Pughe-Morgan	753	12.8	+1.8
Majority			2,942	50.0	+0.3
Turnout			5,893
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.1

Firth Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joan Barton	3,878	66.4	+7.8
	Conservative	K. Rodgers	1,257	21.5	+6.3
	Liberal	J. Maling	700	12.0	−14.1
Majority			2,621	44.9	+12.4
Turnout			5,835
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.7

Gleadless

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Albert Richardson*	3,961	48.3	−0.7
	Conservative	W. Bush	3,884	47.4	+9.6
	Liberal	Robert Mumford	348	4.2	−2.3
Majority			77	0.9	−10.3
Turnout			8,193
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.2

Hallam

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Jackson*	4,600	70.9	+1.4
	Labour	Dennis Brown	1,885	29.0	+8.1
Majority			2,715	41.9	−6.7
Turnout			6,485
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.4

Handsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Nicholls*	2,944	60.2	+14.0
	Conservative	Dorothy Kennedy	1,650	33.7	+3.6
	Liberal	Alfred Sellars	294	6.0	−9.2
Majority			1,294	26.5	+10.4
Turnout			4,888
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.2

Heeley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	F. Rodgers	3,088	50.9	+1.9
	Conservative	Shirley Rhodes	2,535	41.8	+5.8
	Liberal	J. Elston	319	5.2	−0.8
	Communist	Neville Taylor	119	1.9	+1.9
Majority			553	9.1	−3.9
Turnout			6,061
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.9

Hillsborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	A. Banham	3,660	52.8	+7.1
	Labour	Alf Meade*	3,274	47.2	+5.6
Majority			386	5.6	+1.5
Turnout			6,934
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+0.7

Intake

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Barton**	3,745	58.4	+8.2
	Conservative	J. Howard	2,411	37.6	+4.8
	Liberal	P. Clements	259	4.0	−4.3
Majority			1,334	20.8	+3.4
Turnout			6,415
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

Roger Barton was a sitting councillor for Nether Shire

Manor

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Armitage*	2,740	76.3	+2.3
	Conservative	Roger Barnsley	747	20.8	+2.3
	Communist	John Hukin	73	2.0	−0.5
	Workers Revolutionary	P. Littlehales	32	0.9	+0.9
Majority			1,993	55.5	0.0
Turnout			3,592
	Labour hold		Swing	0.0

Mosborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dorothy Walton*	2,929	70.7	+7.4
	Conservative	L. Hinchliffe	1,210	29.2	−7.4
Majority			1,719	41.5	+14.8
Turnout			4,139
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.4

Nether Edge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Verhaert*	2,588	56.4	−2.5
	Labour	F. Woodbine	1,493	32.5	+6.9
	Liberal	K. Salt	504	11.0	+11.0
Majority			1,095	23.9	−9.4
Turnout			4,651
	Conservative hold		Swing	-4.7

Nether Shire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Wigfield	2,778	66.2	−3.0
	Conservative	L. Smith	1,323	31.5	+4.6
	Communist	Kenneth Hattersley	97	2.3	−1.6
Majority			1,455	34.7	−7.6
Turnout			4,198
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.8

Netherthorpe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harold Lambert*	2,315	67.8	+6.7
	Conservative	Moira Hattersley	1,034	30.3	+3.5
	British Movement	N. Gale	66	1.9	+1.9
Majority			1,281	37.5	+3.2
Turnout			3,415
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.6

Owlerton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Watson*	2,750	71.7	+3.7
	Conservative	P. Stafford	1,083	28.2	+2.3
Majority			1,667	43.5	+1.4
Turnout			3,833
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.7

Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Jones*	3,471	77.9	+7.9
	Conservative	Nicholas Hutton	926	20.8	−0.7
	Communist	R. Paulucy	60	1.3	−0.8
Majority			2,545	57.1	+8.6
Turnout			4,457
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.3

Sharrow

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Howard Knight	1,951	65.7	+12.5
	Conservative	Thomas Seaton	960	32.3	+6.0
	Communist	Brian Turley	56	1.9	+0.1
Majority			991	33.4	+6.5
Turnout			2,967
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.2

South Wortley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	A. Mason	3,554	56.7	+11.4
	Labour	M. Rudd	2,710	43.2	+0.0
Majority			844	13.5	+11.4
Turnout			6,264
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+5.7

Southey Green

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Blunkett*	3,423	80.0	+3.6
	Conservative	M. Toy	856	20.0	−3.5
Majority			2,567	60.0	+7.1
Turnout			4,279
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.5

Stocksbridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Anthony Sweeney*	1,460	35.9	−6.9
	Conservative	Barrie Jones	1,156	28.4	+3.9
	Liberal	A. Cooke	744	18.3	+18.3
	Independent	R. Challis	709	17.4	+17.4
Majority			304	7.5	−2.7
Turnout			4,069
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.4

Walkley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paul Wood	2,630	59.0	+4.1
	Conservative	M. Maxworthy	1,825	40.9	+9.3
Majority			805	18.1	−5.2
Turnout			4,455
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.6