Rushmoor Borough Council election, 2003

The 2003 Rushmoor Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Rushmoor Borough 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 25
• Liberal Democrat 10
• Labour 6
• Independent 1^[2]

Campaign

One third of the seats were being elected with the third placed councillor in the 2002 election having their seat be contested.^[3] While a couple of former councillors were attempting to win seats back, George Paparesti for the Liberal Democrats in Manor Park and Stella Olivier for Labour in Grange,^[3] Labour's group leader Andy Straker stood down at the election and did not defend his seat in North Town.^[4] Apart from the 3 main political parties there were also 3 Green, 1 English Democrat and 2 independent candidates.^[3]

Rushmoor was one of 18 councils which trialed electronic voting in the 2003 local elections.^[5]

Election result

The results saw no seats change hands with the Conservatives keeping their majority on the council.^[6] The closest results came in St Mark's ward where Conservative Diane Bedford held on by 30 votes over the Liberal Democrats after a recount and in Manor Park where again the Conservatives finished 47 votes ahead of the Liberal Democrats.^[6] Labour held their 2 seats in Heron Wood and North Town with reduced majorities but did not make any gains.^[6] Overall turnout in the election was 31%.^[7]

Following the election John Marsh remained the leader of the council and Conservatives after defeating a challenge from within the Conservative group by 14 votes to 11.^[8] Meanwhile Keith Dibble became the new leader of the Labour group on the council.^[9]

Rushmoor Local Election Result 2003[10][11]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	9	0	0	0	64.3	44.8	8,192	-0.8%
	Liberal Democrat	3	0	0	0	21.4	33.2	6,056	+4.7%
	Labour	2	0	0	0	14.3	17.5	3,197	-1.7%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	2.4	441	-2.1%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	1.4	257	-0.8%
	English Democrats	0	0	0	0	0	0.7	123	+0.7%

Ward results

Cove & Southwood[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Jupp	691	49.2
	Conservative	David Thomas	545	38.8
	Labour	Edward Shelton	130	9.3
	Green	James Page	39	2.8
Majority			146	10.4
Turnout			1,405	34.0
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Empress[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Wall	940	56.2
	Liberal Democrat	Stephen Chowns	534	31.9
	Labour	Christopher Wright	199	11.9
Majority			406	24.3
Turnout			1,673	37.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Fernhill[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kenneth Muschamp	596	50.5
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Shaw	424	35.9
	Labour	Martin Coule	160	13.6
Majority			172	14.6
Turnout			1,180	29.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Grange[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jon Weston	738	51.9
	Labour	Stella Olivier	369	25.9
	Liberal Democrat	Hazel Manning	229	16.1
	Independent	Arthur Pendragon	86	6.0
Majority			369	25.9
Turnout			1,422	35.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Heron Wood[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Cappleman	545	47.0
	Conservative	Andrew Hankins	408	35.2
	Liberal Democrat	Ian Colpus	206	17.8
Majority			137	11.8
Turnout			1,159	27.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Knellwood[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roland Dibbs	742	46.4
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Kaye	382	23.9
	Independent	Keith Parkins	355	22.2
	Labour	William Tootill	119	7.4
Majority			360	22.5
Turnout			1,598	39.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Manor Park[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Crerar	654	45.2
	Liberal Democrat	George Paparesti	607	41.9
	Labour	June Smith	187	12.9
Majority			47	3.2
Turnout			1,448	33.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Mayfield[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Neville Dewey	587	57.7
	Labour	Clive Grattan	236	23.2
	Conservative	Roderick Baulk	195	19.2
Majority			351	34.5
Turnout			1,018	25.6
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

North Town[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carolyne Culver	498	41.3
	Conservative	Neil Watkin	376	31.2
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Sandy	251	20.8
	Green	Adam Stacey	81	6.7
Majority			122	10.1
Turnout			1,206	27.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Rowhill[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mohammad Choudhary	710	53.8
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Thompson	287	21.8
	Labour	Jill Clark	239	18.1
	Green	Julia Fowler	83	6.3
Majority			423	32.1
Turnout			1,319	32.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

St John's[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graham Tucker	676	62.4
	Liberal Democrat	Martine Howell	408	37.6
Majority			268	24.7
Turnout			1,084	25.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Mark's[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Diane Bedford	648	45.8
	Liberal Democrat	Alistair Mackie	618	43.7
	Labour	Barry Jones	149	10.5
Majority			30	2.1
Turnout			1,415	31.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wellington[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Francis Williams	383	47.6
	Labour	Robert Sullivan	222	27.6
	Liberal Democrat	Nickolaus Burfield	145	18.0
	Green	Samantha Stacey	54	6.7
Majority			161	20.0
Turnout			804	18.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

West Heath[6][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Shaun Murphy	687	44.8
	Conservative	Stephen Masterson	581	37.9
	Labour	Philip Collins	144	9.4
	English Democrats	Gary Cowd	123	8.0
Majority			106	6.9
Turnout			1,535	37.2
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

References

1. "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
2. "How Britain voted: English and Scottish councils". The Independent. 2003-05-03. p. 18.
3. "Independents' Rushmoor challenge". gethampshire. 2003-04-10. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
4. "Shock as Labour group leader stands down". gethampshire. 2003-04-08. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
5. "Cross culture". guardian.co.uk. 2003-04-30. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
6. "Election round-up". getwokingham. 2003-05-08. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
7. "Ousted after seven years". gethampshire. 2004-06-15. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
8. "Tory night of long knives". gethampshire. 2003-05-13. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
9. "New labour leader in Rushmoor". gethampshire. 2003-05-29. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
10. "Election results - 1 May 2003". Rushmoor Borough Council. Archived from the original on 2006-09-27. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
11. "English councils". The Times. 2003-05-03. p. 47.