Elections to Wigan Council were held on 3 May 1979, with one third of the council up for vote as well as an extra vacancy in Ward 22. The election seen Labour strengthening their grip, with six gains - mostly in the wards they lost seats in at the 1975 election - and one loss. All but one of the gains were from the Conservatives, with the other being from the Liberal's sole seat in Ward 14. A Liberal gain in Ward 15 from Labour kept them represented on the council. Owing to general election on the same day, turnout was significantly up, to 75.7% and all wards were contested - a continuation of the feat started last election.^[1]

Election result[edit]

Wigan Local Election Result 1979

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	21	6	1	+5	84.0	55.7	96,617	+1.4%
	Conservative	3	0	5	-5	12.0	37.9	65,756	-5.7%
	Liberal	1	1	1	0	4.0	5.0	8,646	+3.3%
	Residents	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.3	2,328	+1.3%
	Communist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	154	-0.1%

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

Party		Previous council	New council
	Labour	51	56
	Conservatives	19	14
	Liberals	1	1
	Independent	1	1
Total		72	72
Working majority		30	40

Ward results[edit]

Ward 1 (Lindsay-Scholes-Whelley)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	M. Pratt	4,517	67.2	+4.3
	Conservative	C. Giles	2,206	32.8	-4.3
Majority			2,311	34.4	+8.7
Turnout			6,723	74.4	+40.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.3

Ward 2 (Poolstock-Worsley Mesnes)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	H. Antill	4,643	66.8	0.0
	Conservative	R. Rogers	2,311	33.2	0.0
Majority			2,332	33.6	0.0
Turnout			6,954	70.0	+40.8
	Labour hold		Swing	0.0

Ward 3 (Gidlow-Swinley-Whitley)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. France	3,989	47.8	-22.7
	Labour	K. Green	2,423	29.0	-0.5
	Residents	M. McElligott	1,244	14.9	+14.9
	Liberal	P. Davies	691	8.3	+8.3
Majority			1,566	18.8	-22.2
Turnout			11,297	73.9	+39.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-11.1

Ward 4 (Beech Hill and Marsh Green)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	N. Turner	4,869	70.7	+2.2
	Conservative	W. Banister	2,016	29.3	-2.2
Majority			2,853	41.4	+4.4
Turnout			6,885	72.7	+43.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.2

Ward 5 (Highfield and Lamberhead)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Smith	4,886	59.0	+6.6
	Conservative	A. Foster	3,395	41.0	-6.6
Majority			1,491	18.0	+13.2
Turnout			8,281	73.3	+47.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.6

Ward 6 (Newtown and Rose Hill)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	M. Milligan	4,327	70.3	+3.7
	Conservative	R. Bell	1,830	29.7	-3.7
Majority			2,497	40.6	+7.5
Turnout			6,157	71.4	+43.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.7

Ward 7 (Hope Carr)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Powell	2,960	53.6	-2.6
	Labour	H. Smith	2,564	46.4	+2.6
Majority			396	7.2	-5.2
Turnout			5,524	77.5	+34.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.6

Ward 8 (St Pauls and St Peters)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Roberts	4,269	67.5	+4.8
	Conservative	W. Lackenby	1,902	30.1	-3.6
	Communist	H. Kedward	154	2.4	-1.2
Majority			2,367	37.4	+8.5
Turnout			6,325	69.7	+42.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.2

Ward 9 (Etherstone and St Marys)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	D. Caley	3,760	55.7	+9.1
	Conservative	H. Yates	2,989	44.3	-2.3
Majority			771	11.4	+11.4
Turnout			6,749	74.5	+41.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+5.7

Ward 10 (Lilford-St Josephs-St Thomas)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Jones	3,440	51.3	+8.5
	Conservative	M. Wood	3,260	48.7	-8.5
Majority			180	2.7	-11.7
Turnout			6,700	76.0	+35.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.5

Ward 11 (Golborne St Thomas and Lowton)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	B. Strett	4,120	50.2	-7.9
	Conservative	T. Thompson	3,131	38.2	-3.7
	Liberal	A. Nixon	949	11.6	+11.6
Majority			989	12.1	-4.2
Turnout			8,200	77.7	+37.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.1

Ward 12 (Golborne Heath Park and Ashton)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Miller	4,540	64.5	-0.4
	Conservative	J. Harrison	2,503	35.5	+0.4
Majority			2,037	29.0	-0.8
Turnout			7,043	78.8	+42.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.4

Ward 13 (Ashton-in-Makerfield North and West)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Lyons	3,755	65.9	+3.1
	Conservative	B. Smith	1,941	34.1	-3.1
Majority			1,814	31.8	+6.2
Turnout			5,696	75.4	+39.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.1

Ward 14 (Ashton-in-Makerfield Central and East)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. McEntegart	3,815	55.1	-1.6
	Conservative	S. Hibbert	3,110	44.9	+1.6
Majority			705	10.2	-3.2
Turnout			6,925	75.0	+42.5
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	-1.6

Ward 15 (Standish with Langtree and Shevington)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	J. Pigott	4,043	40.7	+18.9
	Labour	J. Hardy	3,327	33.5	-6.2
	Conservative	E. Howard	2,555	25.7	-12.6
Majority			716	7.2	+5.8
Turnout			9,925	80.7	+38.5
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+12.5

Ward 16 (Aspull)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Singer	3,860	47.8	+1.8
	Conservative	J. Blackledge	3,122	38.7	-9.3
	Liberal	E. Hill	1,093	13.5	+7.5
Majority			738	9.1	+7.1
Turnout			8,075	80.5	+38.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.5

Ward 17 (Atherton North East)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	W. Murphy	4,712	65.9	-6.2
	Conservative	M. Sharland	2,434	34.1	+6.2
Majority			2,278	31.8	-12.4
Turnout			7,146	73.5	+39.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.2

Ward 18 (Atherton South West)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Sumner	2,891	56.3	+8.8
	Conservative	W. Perrin	2,246	43.7	-8.8
Majority			645	12.5	+7.5
Turnout			5,137	77.8	+35.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.8

Ward 19 (Hindley Central and North)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Robinson	3,826	68.2	-0.3
	Conservative	M. Lunt	1,457	26.0	-5.5
	Liberal	P. Gibbons	328	5.8	+5.8
Majority			2,369	42.2	+5.2
Turnout			5,611	75.8	+44.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.6

Ward 20 (Hindley South East and West)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	T. Wynn	5,214	62.2	+6.4
	Conservative	J. Culshaw	3,167	37.8	-6.4
Majority			2,047	24.4	+12.8
Turnout			8,381	75.4	+47.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.4

Ward 21 (Ince-in-Makerfield)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Banks	5,627	73.7	+2.0
	Conservative	M. Jones	2,008	26.3	-2.0
Majority			3,619	47.4	+3.9
Turnout			7,635	69.5	+37.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.0

Ward 22 (Orrell and Billinge)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	F. Fairbarn	4,958	42.1	-13.2
	Labour	R. Capstick	4,198	35.6	-9.1
	Conservative	M. Fox	4,040
	Labour	E. Nickeas	3,567
	Liberal	J. Fitzpatrick	1,542	13.1	+13.1
	Residents	C. Hughes	1,084	9.2	+9.2
Majority			760	6.5	-4.1
Turnout			11,782	84.4	+48.7
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.0

Ward 23 (Tyldesley - Shakerley)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	F. Hampson	3,220	50.8	+2.8
	Conservative	H. Davies	3,114	49.2	-2.8
Majority			662	9.5	+5.6
Turnout			6,966	76.6	+39.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.8

Ward 24 (Tyldesley - Astley Green and Blackmoor)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	F. Hampson	3,220	50.8	+1.8
	Conservative	H. Davies	3,114	49.2	-1.8
Majority			106	1.6	-0.3
Turnout			6,334	80.4	+39.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.8

References[edit]