The 1964 Newham London Borough Council election took place on 7 May 1964 to elect members of

Newham London Borough Council Newham London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Newham. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a dir ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. The whole council was up for election and the Labour Party gained control of the council.

Background

These elections were the first to the newly formed borough. Previously elections had taken place in the

County Borough of East Ham East Ham was a local government district in the far south west of Essex from 1878 to 1965. It extended from Wanstead Flats in the north to the River Thames in the south and from Green Street in the west to Barking Creek in the east. It was part o ...

County Borough of West Ham West Ham was a local government district in the extreme south west of Essex from 1886 to 1965, forming part of the built-up area of London, although outside the County of London. It was immediately north of the River Thames and east of the River ...

Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich was a metropolitan borough in the County of London from 1900 to 1965. It was formed from the civil parishes of Eltham, Plumstead and Woolwich. Its former area is now part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and ...

and

Municipal Borough of Barking Barking was a local government district, and later civil parish and borough, in southwest Essex, England from 1882 to 1965. It was known as Barking Town from 1882 to 1931. The district included the town of Barking, eastern Beckton and the southwes ...

. These boroughs were joined to form the new London Borough of Newham by the

London Government Act 1963 The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...

. A total of 145 candidates stood in the election for the 60 seats being contested across 24 wards. 3 seats in one ward went unopposed. These included a full slate from the Labour Party, while the Liberal and Conservative parties stood 38 and 20 respectively. Other candidates included 17 Residents, 7 Communists and 2 Independents. There were 12 three-seat wards and 12 two-seat wards. This election had

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

as well as directly elected

councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

. Labour got all 10 aldermen. The Council was elected in 1964 as a "shadow authority" but did not start operations until 1 April 1965.

Election result

The results saw Labour gain the new council with a majority of 40 after winning 50 of the 60 seats. Overall turnout in the election was 29.4%. This turnout included 333

postal votes Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. In an ele ...

Results by ward

Beckton

Bemersyde

Canning Town & Grange

Castle

Central

Custom House & Silvertown

Forest Gate

Greatfield

Hudsons

Kensington

Little Ilford

Manor Park

New Town

Ordnance

Park

Plaistow

Plashet

St Stephens

South

Stratford

Upton

Wall End

West Ham

Woodgrange

By-elections between 1964 and 1968

There were no by-elections.

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 1964

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

1964 London Borough council elections