2003 Hart District Council election

The 2003 Hart Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Hart District Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.[1]

2003 Hart District Council election
1 May 2003
12 of 35 seats to Hart District Council
18 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Party Conservative Liberal Democrats
Seats before 22 10
Seats after 22 10
Popular vote 6,315 5,358
Percentage 51.8 44.0
Results by Ward
Council control before election

Conservative

 Council control after election

Conservative

After the election, the composition of the council was

Background

12 seats were to be contested in the 2003 election, but Eversley ward saw Conservative councillor Hugo Eastwood re-elected without opposition.[3] The other 11 seats had the Conservatives defending 6 seats compared to 5 for the Liberal Democrats, with 10 of them having sitting councillors standing for re-election.[3] The only candidates from other parties standing were 4 from the Labour party and 3 from the Green party.[3]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives retain control of the council after no seats changed parties.[4] There were 2 close results with the Conservatives holding Fleet North by 19 votes over the Liberal Democrats, while the Liberal Democrats held Blackwater and Hawley by 16 votes over the Conservatives.[4] This meant the Conservatives retained 22 seats, compared to 10 for the Liberal Democrats and 3 independents.[4] Overall turnout in the election was 28.52%.[5]

Following the election, councillor Jan Pearson, quit the Conservative group to sit as an independent saying she was unhappy about how the group made decisions.[6] Meanwhile, Conservative Lorraine Fullbrook became the new leader of the council after only having been first elected to the council in the 2002 election.[7]

Hart Local Election Result 2003[5][8]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Conservative 7 0 0 0 58.3 51.8 6,315 +6.2%
  Liberal Democrats 5 0 0 0 41.7 44.0 5,358 +2.4%
  Labour 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 364 -0.6%
  Green 0 0 0 0 0 1.2 144 +0.8%

Ward results

Blackwater and Hawley
Blackwater and Hawley[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats David Neighbour 557 50.7
Conservative Vivienne Gascoigne 541 49.3
Majority 16 1.5
Turnout 1,098 31.9 +6.2
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Church Crookham West
Church Crookham West[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Lorraine Fullbrook 593 55.5
Liberal Democrats Nicola Dommett 424 39.7
Green Nigel Moakes 52 4.9
Majority 169 15.8
Turnout 1,069 28.3 -3.2
Conservative hold Swing

Eversley
Eversley[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Hugo Eastwood unopposed
Conservative hold Swing

Fleet Courtmoor
Fleet Courtmoor[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Wallace Vincent 673 59.5
Liberal Democrats Jeffrey Smith 458 40.5
Majority 215 19.0
Turnout 1,131 29.9 -6.2
Conservative hold Swing

Fleet North
Fleet North[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Barrell 355 51.4
Liberal Democrats Richard Robinson 336 48.6
Majority 19 2.7
Turnout 691 23.6 -2.6
Conservative hold Swing

Frogmore and Darby Green
Frogmore and Darby Green[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Viv Street 601 62.1
Conservative Colin Mortimer 256 26.4
Labour John Davies 111 11.5
Majority 345 35.6
Turnout 968 23.3 -5.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Hartley Wintney
Hartley Wintney[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mark Fullbrook 888 75.7
Liberal Democrats Helen Whitcroft 285 24.3
Majority 603 51.4
Turnout 1,173 30.3 -3.5
Conservative hold Swing

Hook
Hook[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Andrew Henderson 955 64.7
Liberal Democrats David Evans 453 30.7
Green Lars Mosesson 68 4.6
Majority 502 34.0
Turnout 1,476 26.4 -4.9
Conservative hold Swing

Odiham
Odiham[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Roger Jones 984 76.7
Liberal Democrats Anthony Over 299 23.3
Majority 685 53.4
Turnout 1,283 37.8
Conservative hold Swing

Yateley East
Yateley East[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Graham Cockarill 652 56.5
Conservative Thomas Schwartz 404 35.0
Labour Sophie Shepherd 97 8.4
Majority 248 21.5
Turnout 1,153 28.7 +2.2
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Yateley North
Yateley North[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats David Simpson 775 61.1
Conservative James Lawrence 430 33.9
Labour Keith Spendlove 63 5.0
Majority 345 27.2
Turnout 1,268 33.1 +9.2
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

Yateley West
Yateley West[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Myra Billings 518 59.5
Conservative Edward Bromhead 236 27.1
Labour Mary Jenkins 93 10.7
Green Margaret Adhemar 24 2.8
Majority 282 32.4
Turnout 871 22.2 -1.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

References
  1. "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  2. "English local elections: Results". The Guardian. 2 May 2003. p. 12.
  3. "Hart's election line-up". gethampshire. 10 April 2003. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  4. "Election round-up". gethampshire. 8 May 2003. Archived from the original on 14 December 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  5. "Election Results for 1 May 2003". Hart District Council. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  6. "'Excluded' Tory quits". Reading Post. 8 May 2003. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  7. "Rapid rise for council leader". gethampshire. 15 May 2003. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  8. "Election Results". The Times. 2 May 2003. p. 17.
Preceded by
2002 Hart Council election		 Hart local elections Succeeded by
2004 Hart Council election
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