Hart District Council election, 2003

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]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Conservative 22
• Liberal Democrat 10
• Independent 3^[2]

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

Church Crookham West[4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lorraine Fullbrook	593	55.5
	Liberal Democrat	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[4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hugo Eastwood	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

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

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

Frogmore and Darby Green[4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	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 Democrat hold		Swing

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

Hook[4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Henderson	955	64.7
	Liberal Democrat	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[4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Jones	984	76.7
	Liberal Democrat	Anthony Over	299	23.3
Majority			685	53.4
Turnout			1,283	37.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Yateley East[4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	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 Democrat hold		Swing

Yateley North[4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	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 Democrat hold		Swing

Yateley West[4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	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 Democrat hold		Swing

References

1. "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
2. "English local elections: Results". The Guardian. 2003-05-02. p. 12.
3. "Hart's election line-up". gethampshire. 2003-04-10. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
4. "Election round-up". gethampshire. 2003-05-08. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
5. "Election Results for 1 May 2003". Hart District Council. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
6. "'Excluded' Tory quits". Reading Post. 2003-05-08. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
7. "Rapid rise for council leader". gethampshire. 2003-05-15. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
8. "Election Results". The Times. 2003-05-02. p. 17.