1962 Orpington Urban District Council election

1962 Orpington Council election

10 May 1962
12 councillors to Orpington Council
First party Second party Third party   Party Liberal Conservative Labour Seats won 9 3 0 Seat change 6 5 1
Majority party before election Conservative Party (UK) Majority party after election Liberal Party (UK)

Orpington's municipal elections were held on 10 May 1962. One third of the council was up for election. The elections took place just under two months after the Liberals had won the 1962 Orpington by-election.

Election result

Orpington Local Election Result 1962

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Liberal	9	+6	0	+6	66.66	52.52	13,694	+20.73%
	Conservative	3	0	5	-5	33.33	37.93	9,891	-18.06%
	Labour	0	0	1	-1	0	9.55	2,491	-2.66%

The Liberal share of the vote matched that achieved in the Orpington by-election two months earlier. 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
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" |	Liberals	13	-	18	-
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" |	Conservative	18	-	14	-
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" |	Labour	2	-	1	-
Total		33	-	33	-
		33		33

The Conservatives lost their majority and went into opposition. The Liberal won a majority taking control of the council for the first time.

Ward result

Biggin Hill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alfred Baldock Howard	932	50.93	−0.96
	Conservative		821	44.86	+0.87
	Labour		77	4.21	+0.09
Majority			111	6.07	−1.83
Turnout			1,830
	Liberal hold		Swing	-0.91

Crofton North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lois Wiggins	1,180	46.84	+1.60
	Conservative		1,073	42.60	−6.43
	Labour		266	10.56	+4.83
Majority			107	4.24
Turnout			2,519
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+4.01

Crofton South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Tom Flawn	2,438	56.80	+30.61
	Conservative		1,615	37.63	−24.06
	Labour		239	5.57	−6.55
Majority			823	19.17
Turnout			4,292
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+27.33

Downe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	E. C. H. Jones
	Liberal	Donald Kerr
	Conservative
	Conservative
	Labour
	Labour
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Includes by-election caused by the resignation of Councillor Eric Lubbock.

Farnborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative		861	50.50	−11.22
	Liberal		756	44.34	+15.24
	Labour		88	5.16	−4.02
Majority			105	6.16	−26.46
Turnout			1,705
	Conservative hold		Swing	-13.23

Goddington South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bob Rayner	2,127	66.47	+16.62
	Conservative		872	27.25	−17.41
	Labour		201	6.28	+0.79
Majority			1,255	39.22	+34.03
Turnout			3,200
	Liberal hold		Swing	+17.01

Green Street Green

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Jim Norman	1,701	54.94
	Conservative		1,114	35.98
	Labour		281	9.08
Majority			587	18.96
Turnout			3,096
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Knockholt

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative
	Liberal	Brian Armstrong
	Labour
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

Knoll

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Michael Edwardes-Evans	1,180	50.30
	Conservative		959	40.88
	Labour		207	8.82
Majority			221	9.42
Turnout			2,346
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Petts Wood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative		1,591	52.32
	Liberal		1,287	42.32
	Labour		163	5.36
Majority			304	10.00
Turnout			3,041
	Conservative hold		Swing

Poverest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	E. James Lovell	1,373	52.57	+30.07
	Labour		885	33.88	−9.34
	Conservative		354	13.55	−20.72
Majority			488	18.69
Turnout			2,612
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+19.70