The 1973 Stevenage Borough Council election were the first elections to the newly created

Stevenage Borough Council Stevenage Borough Council is the local authority for Stevenage, a local government district with borough status in Hertfordshire, England. The council has been under Labour majority control since 1974. It is based at Daneshill House on Danestr ...

and took place on 7 June 1973 . This was on the same day as other local elections. The

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

stipulated that the elected members were to shadow and eventually take over from the predecessor

urban district council In England and Wales, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. ...

on 1 April 1974. The election resulted in Labour gaining control of the council, which it has held continuously to the present day. The new council was awarded

borough status Borough status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district. In Scotland, si ...

when it came into its powers on 1 April 1974, allowing the chairman to take the title of

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. The first mayor was Labour councillor Jim Cockerton.

Overall results

, -bgcolor=#F6F6F6 , colspan=2 style="text-align: right; margin-right: 1em" , Total , style="text-align: right;" , 35 , colspan=5 , , style="text-align: right;" , 15,458 , style="text-align: right;" , , - , colspan="11" style="color:inherit;background:", , - , style="color:inherit;background:", , colspan="10", Labour win

Ward results

Bedwell (5 seats)

Broadwater (5 seats)

Chells (5 seats)

Old Stevenage (6 seats)

Pin Green (8 seats)

Shephall (6 seats)

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 1973

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

1973 English local elections 1970s in Hertfordshire