Worcester City Council election, 2003

The 2003 Worcester City Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Worcester District Council in Worcestershire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 19
• Labour 10
• Independent 5
• Liberal Democrat 2^[2]

Campaign

13 seats were contested in the election with 2 seats available in St Nicholas ward after a Labour councillor stood down.^[3] Labour defended 7 seats as against 5 for the Conservatives and 1 for the independents.^[4] Meanwhile the decision of the British National Party to put up a candidate in Holy Trinity ward received attention in the press.^[3]

Worcester was a top Conservative target council in the 2003 local elections,^[5][6] with gains here seen as important signal for the parties performance at the next general election.^[7] The Conservatives had controlled the council as a minority administration since the 2000 election and were hoping to win a majority.^[4] They said Labour had been out of touch when they ran the council and had made poor decisions suching as using green fields for transport schemes.^[4] However Labour attacked the Conservatives for the council's budget, including a council tax rise of 9.5% and poor waste collection services; as well as the controversy over the closing and then rescue of Swan Theatre in Worcester.^[4]

The level of postal voting in the election was up on previous years with 5,000 postal voting forms being sent, compared to 3,000 in 2002.^[8][9]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives win a majority on the council,^[10] after gaining 2 seats from Labour but losing 1 seat to the Liberal Democrats.^[11] This meant that Labour only held 10 seats which was the lowest number of seats they had held on the council up to then.^[11] However Labour did manage to retain Holy Trinity ward, defeating the British National Party who came second in the ward.^[11] Voter turnout was low, dropping as low as 18% in St Barnabus ward.^[11]

Ward results

References

Council elections in Worcestershire Worcestershire County Council 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 Bromsgrove District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Malvern Hills District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Redditch Borough Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Worcester City Council 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 Wychavon District Council 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Wyre Forest District Council 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015

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