1983 – 5th May – Kenilworth Town Council – Election

Abbey Ward (6 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Kenneth Rawnsley	Conservative Party	1922
Kenneth Hogarth	Conservative Party	1864
Michael Coker	Conservative Party	1821
*Jack Bastock	Liberal Party	1817
*John Cooke	Conservative Party	1781
John Hatfield	Conservative Party	1718
D. Barfield	Conservative Party	1678
*Graham Windybank	Liberal Party	1594
*Haydn Thomas	Liberal Party	1544
*Kenneth Griffiths	Liberal Party	1457
*Enys Thomas	Liberal Party	1444
John Sumner	Liberal Party	1417
Teresa Blackwell	Labour Party	326
Melanie Lomas	Labour Party	325
Geoffrey Cleave	Labour Party	313
M. Hirons	Labour Party	296
R. Smith	Labour Party	288
Richard Wood	Labour Party	278

Turnout 61.3%

St John’s Ward (6 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
*Robert Wooller	Conservative Party	2046
Peggy Cox	Conservative Party	1984
*James Whitby	Conservative Party	1961
Pauline Edwards	Conservative Party	1919
*Viki McClean	Conservative Party	1882
Mike James	Conservative Party	1838
*Bill Wozencroft	Labour Party	1170
John Whitehouse	Social Democratic Party	873
Mary Harrison	Social Democratic Party	809
M. Reynolds	Social Democratic Party	687
H. Makura	Social Democratic Party	631
I. Rixom	Social Democratic Party	627
Brenda Payne	Labour Party	622
Mark Juby	Labour Party	603
John Payne	Labour Party	563
Thomas Swallow	Labour Party	554
l. Mountney	Labour Party	533

Turnout 56.7%

Park Hill Ward (4 seats)

Candidate	Party	Votes
Spencer Harrison	Conservative Party	970
*Robert Butler	Liberal Party	956
Thomas Dalton	Conservative Party	925
Paul Weatherall	Liberal Party	883
Ian Hills	Conservative Party	842
T. Sturgess	Conservative Party	794
Eric Deal	Liberal Party	790
Vera Royston	Liberal Party	743
John Airey	Labour Party	202
Chris Payne	Labour Party	180
Rosemary Ellis	Labour Party	178
David Peggs	Labour Party	139

Turnout 61.4 %

*denotes retiring councillors

TORIES TAKE CONTROL IN NEW WARD SYSTEM

A new ward system was introduced for this election. The traditional six wards were replaced by three but larger wards. The historical: Windy Arbour, Borrowell and Castle wards were gone. The number of councillors was also reduced from 18 to 16. One further change was that elections would now be every four years, replacing the longstanding triennial polls.

These changes did not go down well with the heavily defeated Liberals. They claimed the results on the new ward boundaries had favoured the Tories, and had been engineered by them. Town Major, Bill Wozencroft lost his seat, as did three others members, deputy Mayor Haydn Thomas, his wife, Enys and Liberal leader Graham Windybank. The Liberals were now down to just three councillors, a reduction of four from the 1979 election.

Jack Bastock, one of the Liberals who survived the rout, stated that the new boundaries were a ‘big con’, the wards were so large the result was distorted. The Liberals also believed that the many new people on the Knight’s Meadow estate were not aware of the Liberals strength or hard work they do in Kenilworth and as a result voted politically.

New to the Tory ranks are solicitor, Michael Coker and Spencer Harrison who are also district councillors. Other new members include Peggy Cox, wife of the late councillor, Jack Cox. Tony Dalton, an office equipment supplier and has lived in Kenilworth for seven years and was elected in Park Hill. Mike James, John Hatfield and Pauline Edwards are also completely new to council work. But Kenneth Hogarth is an ‘old’ face to the council having been Town Major (1976) and Chairman of the old KUDC (1973) before losing his seat at the 1979 poll.

Viki McClean is not entirely a new face, having been co-opted onto the council in March. Bob Wooller, following his by-election success last September, topped the tree in St John’s with a whopping 2046 votes, the highest of any candidate.

Kenilworth Town Councillors (16 seats)

13 Conservative Party (S. Harrison, T. Dalton, R. Wooller, P. Cox, J. Whitby, P. Edwards, V. McClean, M. James, K. Rawnsley, K. Hogarth, M. Coker, J. Cooke, J, Hatfield)

3 Liberal Party (J. Bastock, R. Butler, P. Weatherall)

Mayors

Town Clerk – Harry Sunley