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1988 North Hertfordshire District Council election
18 of 50 seats on North Hertfordshire District Council; 26 seats needed for a majority
Leader before election; Bob Flatman; Conservative	Leader after election ; Bob Flatman; Conservative

The 1988 North Hertfordshire District Council election was held on 5 May 1988, at the same time as other local elections across England and Scotland. There were 18 out of 50 seats on North Hertfordshire District Council up for election, being the usual third of the council plus a by-election in Codicote ward.^[1]

The Conservatives made a net gain of one seat to increase their majority on the council. The former SDP–Liberal Alliance group of eight councillors had fragmented ahead of the election; four joined the new merged party of the Social and Liberal Democrats (renamed the Liberal Democrats the following year), but the other four (including former Alliance group leader, Tony Quinn) joined the breakaway continuing Social Democratic Party opposed to the merger.^[2]

Overall results

The overall results were as follows:^[3]

1988 North Hertfordshire District Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
Party		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Conservative	12	1	66.7	15	27	54.0	14,569	41.1	+1.6
	Labour	5		27.8	8	13	26.0	11,412	32.2	+7.8
	SLD	0	1	0.0	3	3	6.0	6,094	17.2	-14.5
	SDP	0		0.0	4	4	8.0	1,363	3.8	new
	Ratepayers	1		5.6	2	3	6.0	1,869	5.3	+1.2
	Green	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	138	0.4	0.0

Ward results

The results for each ward were as follows. An asterisk(*) indicates a sitting councillor standing for re-election.^[3]

Ashbrook ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Tatham*	667	64.6	+9.2
	Labour	Keith Brydon	253	24.5	−2.7
	SLD	Jonathan Heath	113	10.9	−6.5
Turnout				50.0
Registered electors			2,046
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.0

Baldock ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Crow	1,595	50.7	+4.0
	Labour	Alan Moir*	1,327	42.2	+15.1
	SLD	Sara Tustin	221	7.0	−19.1
Turnout				47.0
Registered electors			6,703
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	-5.6

Cadwell ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Lee	538	55.1	+17.4
	Labour	Charles MacNally (Charlie MacNally)	327	33.5	+6.5
	SLD	Richard Canning	88	9.0	−26.3
	SDP	Bernadette Hatch (Bernie Hatch)	24	2.5	+2.5
Turnout				54.0
Registered electors			1,801
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.5

Codicote ward
	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Conservative	Edward Ian Smith	769	75.9	+32.4
Labour	Peter Read	244	24.1	−0.1
Conservative hold		Swing	+16.3

The by-election in Codicote ward was triggered by the death of Conservative councillor Denis Winch.

Hitchin Bearton ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Judi Billing*	1,174	54.1	+14.1
	Conservative	Norman Frost	624	28.7	−8.4
	SLD	Penelope Cunningham (Penny Cunningham)	171	7.9	−15.0
	Ratepayers	John Edwards	135	6.2	+6.2
	Green	Christopher Studman	68	3.1	+3.1
Turnout				48.0
Registered electors			4,500
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.3

Hitchin Highbury ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Phillip MacCormack*	1,092	46.2	−3.1
	SLD	Rosemary Read	471	19.9	−21.2
	Labour	David Tizzard	359	15.2	+5.5
	SDP	Carolyn Randall	294	12.4	+12.4
	Ratepayers	Jacqueline Tait	150	6.3	+6.3
Turnout				46.0
Registered electors			5,154
	Conservative hold		Swing	+9.1

Hitchin Oughton ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joan Kirby	1,022	70.5	+19.5
	SLD	Michael John Edwards	427	29.5	+5.7
Turnout				35.0
Registered electors			4,225
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.9

Hitchin Priory ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Francis Howett* (Frank Howett)	832	65.8	+8.7
	SLD	Jennifer Sefton (Jenny Sefton)	265	21.0	−6.8
	Labour	Roger Wood	167	13.2	−2.0
Turnout				46.0
Registered electors			2,737
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.8

Hitchin Walsworth ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ratepayers	Christopher Parker*	1,584	62.0	+13.8
	Labour	Roger Newby	688	26.9	+6.0
	SLD	Paul Clark	213	8.3	−5.0
	Green	Elizabeth Ann Roberts	70	2.7	+1.1
Turnout				42.0
Registered electors			6,096
	Ratepayers hold		Swing	+3.9

Knebworth ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Hilton*	917	62.4	+4.8
	SLD	Michael Stiff (Mike Stiff)	286	19.5	−6.4
	Labour	Jack Nelson	266	18.1	+1.6
Turnout				43.0
Registered electors			3,416
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.6

Letchworth East ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lorna Kercher	1,077	53.2	+11.7
	Conservative	David Langridge	607	30.0	+4.1
	SLD	Keith Marr	340	16.8	−15.7
Turnout				48.0
Registered electors			4,199
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.8

Letchworth Grange ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Kearns*	1,302	42.6	+8.6
	Conservative	Michael Muir	861	28.2	+1.1
	SLD	Alison Kingman	729	23.9	−12.6
	SDP	Sue Sinclair	164	5.4	+5.4
Turnout				58.0
Registered electors			5,215
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.8

Letchworth South East ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Pauline Wood	1,158	39.1	+5.8
	Labour	David Evans	812	27.4	+8.2
	SDP	James Bray	707	23.9	+23.9
	SLD	Harry Shipley	287	9.7	−37.9
Turnout				49.0
Registered electors			6,004
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.2

Letchworth South West ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Woods* (Geoff Woods)	1,203	48.3	−3.7
	SLD	Ian Simpson	697	28.0	−10.0
	Labour	Tony McWalter	418	16.8	+6.7
	SDP	Robert Ashton	174	7.0	+7.0
Turnout				54.0
Registered electors			4,642
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.2

Letchworth Wilbury ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Mardell	1,010	46.1	+8.1
	Conservative	Ray Bloxham*	941	42.9	−0.2
	SLD	Derek Hunter	242	11.0	−7.9
Turnout				54.0
Registered electors			4,036
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+4.2

Royston East ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Francis John Smith*	1,146	58.3	+6.1
	SLD	Jennifer Comley	493	25.1	−9.3
	Labour	Christopher Hills	328	16.7	+3.2
Turnout				47.0
Registered electors			4,170
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.7

Royston West ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Hughes	1,216	46.8	−1.7
	SLD	Gwyn Hardwicke	855	32.9	−2.2
	Labour	Robin King	525	20.2	+3.9
Turnout				46.0
Registered electors			5,652
	Conservative gain from SLD		Swing	+0.3

Weston ward
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Evans*	403	56.6	−4.3
	SLD	Stephen Jarvis	196	27.5	+4.6
	Labour	Rodney Leete	113	15.9	−0.3
Turnout				57.0
Registered electors			1,248
	Conservative hold		Swing	-4.5

Changes 1988–1990

Royston West ward by-election, 27 October 1988
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Doyle (Tim Doyle)	801	46.6	−0.2
	SLD	Jenny Comley	455	26.5	−6.5
	Labour	Robin King	363	21.1	+0.9
	SDP	Michael Harrison	100	5.8	+5.8
Turnout				1000.0
Registered electors
	Conservative gain from SLD		Swing	+3.2

The Royston West by-election was triggered by the resignation of Social and Liberal Democrat councillor Fran Bate. Tim Doyle won the seat for the Conservatives.^[4]

Hitchin Priory ward by-election, 22 February 1990
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Richard Thake
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Harbron
	Labour	David Billing
Turnout
Registered electors
	Conservative hold		Swing

The Hitchin Priory by-election was triggered by the death of Conservative councillor Frank Howett. The seat was retained for the Conservatives by Richard Thake. The number of votes was not reported, but it was said that the Conservative vote was down 20% from the last time the seat was contested and the Liberal Democrat share of the vote was 33%.^[5]^[6]

References

^ The District of North Hertfordshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1977 (S.I. 1977/1442)
^ "Increased majority for happy Tories". Letchworth and Baldock Citizen. 11 May 1988. p. 11.
^ ^a ^b Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. "North Hertfordshire District Council Election Results 1973–2012" (PDF). The Elections Centre. Plymouth University. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
^ "Tories make it a double". Cambridge Daily News. 31 October 1988. p. 7. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
^ "Councillor Richard Thake". North Hertfordshire District Council. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
^ "Worst Tory result". Letchworth and Baldock Gazette. 2 March 1990. p. 5.