Redditch Borough Council election, 2003

The 2003 Redditch Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Redditch Borough Council in the West Midlands region, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 14
• Labour 10
• Liberal Democrat 5^[2]

Campaign

The Conservative party was hoping to gain control over the council, which before the election was controlled by Labour with the support of the Liberal Democrats.^[3] 10 seats were being contested with the Labour party defending 6 of the seats.^[4] Labour needed to gain one seat to regain their majority, while the Conservatives needed 3 gains to also win a majority.^[5] The key wards targeted by the Conservatives were Central, Greenlands and Lodge Park.^[5]

The Conservatives were hoping to gain from voters who were unhappy over council tax rises and they pledged to only increase it by the inflation rate over the next three years if they won control.^[3] Meanwhile, Labour pledged to use new powers to tackle anti-social behaviour and said they were making a difference in the town.^[3][4] Other issues raised in the election included an Audit Commission report on the housing department and the poor use of tourist attractions in the borough.^[4]

Election result

The results saw the Labour party lose four seats, two each to the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.^[6] The Liberal Democrats gained in Church Hill and Winyates, while the Conservatives gained Central and Greenlands.^[6] Among the Labour losses was the wife of the Labour leader, Helen Cartwright, and the planning committee chairman, Clive Cheetham.^[6] The new Conservative councillor from Central ward, Mohammed Farooqui, became the youngest member of the council at the age of 24.^[6]

As a result, the Conservatives became the largest party on the council with 14 seats.^[6] They had only just missed winning a majority on the council after failing to gain Lodge Park by 64 votes.^[6]

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 1997 2000 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 See also: Wards Boundary changes

(2002 ←)   United Kingdom local elections, 2003   (→ 2004) Metropolitan boroughs Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton Unitary authorities Bath and North East Somerset Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton & Hove Bristol Darlington Derby East Riding of Yorkshire Halton Hartlepool Herefordshire Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Slough South Gloucestershire Southampton Southend-on-Sea Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham York District councils (England) Adur Allerdale Alnwick Amber Valley Arun Ashfield Ashford Aylesbury Vale Babergh Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Bassetlaw Bedford Berwick-upon-Tweed Blaby Blyth Valley Bolsover Boston Braintree Breckland Brentwood Bridgnorth Broadland Bromsgrove Broxbourne Broxtowe Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Canterbury Caradon Carlisle Carrick Castle Morpeth Castle Point Charnwood Chelmsford Cherwell Chester Chester-le-Street Chesterfield Chichester Chiltern Christchurch Chorley Colchester Congleton Copeland Corby Cotswold Craven Crawley Crewe and Nantwich Dacorum Dartford Daventry Derbyshire Dales Derwentside Dover Durham Easington East Cambridgeshire East Devon East Dorset East Hampshire East Hertfordshire East Lindsey East Northamptonshire East Staffordshire Eastbourne Eastleigh Eden Ellesmere Port and Neston Elmbridge Epping Forest Epsom and Ewell Erewash Exeter Fenland Forest Heath Forest of Dean Fylde Gedling Gloucester Gravesham Great Yarmouth Guildford Hambleton Harborough Harlow Harrogate Hart Havant Hertsmere High Peak Hinckley and Bosworth Horsham Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Kennet Kerrier Kettering King's Lynn and West Norfolk Lancaster Lewes Lichfield Macclesfield Maidstone Maldon Malvern Hills Mansfield Melton Mendip Mid Bedfordshire Mid Devon Mid Suffolk Mid Sussex Mole Valley New Forest Newark and Sherwood Newcastle-under-Lyme North Cornwall North Devon North Dorset North East Derbyshire North Hertfordshire North Kesteven North Norfolk North Shropshire North Warwickshire North West Leicestershire North Wiltshire Northampton Norwich Nuneaton and Bedworth Oadby and Wigston Oswestry Pendle Penwith Preston Purbeck Redditch Reigate and Banstead Ribble Valley Richmondshire Rochford Rossendale Rother Rugby Runnymede Rushcliffe Rushmoor Salisbury Selby Sevenoaks Shepway Shrewsbury and Atcham South Bedfordshire South Bucks South Cambridgeshire South Derbyshire South Hams South Holland South Kesteven South Lakeland South Norfolk South Northamptonshire South Ribble South Shropshire South Somerset South Staffordshire Spelthorne St Albans St Edmundsbury Staffordshire Moorlands Stevenage Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Suffolk Coastal Surrey Heath Swale Tamworth Tandridge Taunton Deane Teesdale Teignbridge Tendring Test Valley Tewkesbury Thanet Three Rivers Tonbridge and Malling Torridge Tunbridge Wells Uttlesford Vale Royal Wansbeck Warwick Watford Waveney Waverley Wealden Wear Valley Wellingborough Welwyn Hatfield West Devon West Dorset West Lancashire West Lindsey West Oxfordshire West Somerset Weymouth and Portland Winchester Woking Worcester Worthing Wychavon Wycombe Wyre Wyre Forest Scottish councils Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Clackmannanshire Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Dumfries and Galloway Dundee City East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh Falkirk Fife Glasgow Highland Inverclyde Midlothian Moray North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire Orkney Perth and Kinross Renfrewshire Scottish Borders Shetland South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire Stirling West Dunbartonshire West Lothian National Assembly elections Scotland Wales Northern Ireland